A breakdown of the geolocation, radio and telephone services of the Amétis bus network pushed the majority union FO to stop traffic this Saturday, November 16 from 11 a.m. No buses are running in Amiens until further notice.
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This Saturday, November 16 around 8:30 a.m., one of the generators which supplies the geolocation, radio and telephone services of the Amétis bus network stopped working. “We had no visibility on the drivers, where they were in the event of an accident, breakdown, or incivility”explains Mohamed Kaddouri, FO Amétis union delegate.
As security is not ensured for either users or staff, the Force Ouvrière trade union organization, the majority within the urban transport network, decided to return the buses to the depot while waiting to reestablish geolocation. No bus lines are running at the moment.
But why does Amétis use a generator? “We had an electrical problem in Rivery on October 29. The electrical transformer burned and we put in generators to power our depot, so that it could continue to operate normally”specifies the union delegate.
It takes several hours to repair the fault and we haven't started yet.
Mohamed Kaddouri, FO Amétis union delegate
Such a situation is not new, “this has already happened in the past, we are not immune to a technical problem”. Usually, crews have backup channels, but with a transformer out of service, “the emergency solution did not hold” facing the breakdown.
You will have to be patient, since traffic is not likely to resume immediately. “It takes several hours to repair the fault and we haven’t started yet”underlines Mohamed Kaddouri, who does not estimate a resumption of traffic before 6 or 7 p.m. “minimum, if we're lucky”. Neither the passenger information nor the Allo Ametis number works.
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