BKV has ordered an immediate comprehensive fire safety inspection of all its buses, in addition to regular checks, after two vehicles caught fire and one had a smoke leak in its engine compartment in two days. No one was injured in the accidents. The company's buses can still be used safely. The investigations so far have shown that these were isolated and coincidental incidents and that there is no technical or operational link.

All BKV buses including all vehicles involved in the fires, undergo regular daily pre-commissioning inspections and weekly regular technical inspections for fire safety. The investigations carried out so far have shown that there is no technical or operational link between the fires. These unfortunate incidents do not reflect the overall safety of the BKV buses. The company's employees are doing their utmost to ensure that BKV continues to provide a high quality and safe service despite an ageing fleet due to reduced investment resources. Guaranteeing the condition of the vehicles and the safety of travel is the company's top priority, and therefore BKV immediately ordered an overall unscheduled fire safety inspection of all its buses. The inspections include electrical and fuel systems, engine compartment condition and the functionality of the fire extinguishing equipment. Ongoing investigations involving experts are being carried out to establish the exact causes of the incidents.

The passenger compartment of buses operated by BKV is separated from the engine compartment, so passengers can leave the vehicle quickly and safely in the event of a technical problem. No-one has ever been injured in a fire caused by a technical fault on the company's buses. The buses are all equipped with automatic fire extinguishers, which, according to the information available, were also activated, but unfortunately, they were unable to prevent the bus from burning out completely in the Wednesday's fire.

On 13 August 2025, a Karsan Atak purchased in 2015 and with a mileage around 500,000 km caught fire in the centre of Budapest. Four passengers were on board, all of them, as well as the driver, were uninjured and disembarked before the fire spread. At 7:59 am on 14 August, the engine compartment of the 59 tram replacement bus caught fire at the intersection of Érdi út and Süveg utca in the 11th district. The fire spread to the rear of the bus. No one was injured, the passengers and the driver left the bus safely. The vehicle is a 24-year-old Mercedes-Benz Citaro bus with a mileage of nearly 1.5 million km. At 12:10 pm the rear part of a 24-year-old Mercedes Citaro with no passengers and with a mileage of more than 1.3 million km was smoking. The driver immediately started extinguishing the fire with a hand-held device, so no fire was started.

According to BKV's professional experience, the optimum maximum age of buses is 10 years. Although the company makes every effort to ensure the long-term safe operation of its vehicles, the safety and reliability of public transport is best served by the continuous and scheduled purchase of new vehicles. Old Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses involved in fires will be replaced by new vehicles within months. The renewal of the BKV bus fleet will continue in the coming years with the scrapping of the oldest buses.

14 August 2025.

BKV Zrt.