B.C. Transit has filed a lawsuit against a bus manufacturer, saying it faces a $5.2 million repair bill to fix 206 leaky buses.

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The publicly owned transit company that runs buses across much of B.C. alleges the Vicinity Motor (Bus) Corp. breached its contract to properly design or manufacture the low-floor buses to withstand B.C.’s rainy season, according to the lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Dec. 23.

B.C. Transit files $5 million lawsuit claiming it received 206 leaky buses Back to video

A water test was to be applied to each bus to simulate western B.C. rain conditions and the daily vehicle wash cycle, according to the claim.

But inspections found water leaks in at least 122 buses caused by improperly sealed windows and rear doors, and an inadequate number of drains that caused water to pool inside the buses in six areas and to rot the plywood flooring, it said.

The buses made by the Aldergrove-based company were supposed to last 10 years, or one million kilometres, but as a result of the defects, “the life expectancy of the vehicles was shortened,” according to the claim.

The problem was caused by defective design, engineering and manufacturing by Vicinity, B.C. Transit alleged.

The lawsuit also alleged Vicinity knew about the defects, concealed them and failed to fix them.

Vicinity went into receivership in late 2024.

B.C. Transit signed the original contract with Vicinity in late 2011 for 15 low-floor buses and bought another 191 between 2016 and 2022. They were delivered in batches between 2013 and 2022, according to the claim.

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A “flooring issue” was first identified on one bus in 2022, followed by three other buses.

B.C. Transit and Vicinity both investigated the leaks but the problem was “masked for some time” because of the cyclical nature of seasonal rains, said the claim.

Vicinity first did the repairs to keep the buses on the road, but later the repairs were done by Big Rig Collision in Alberta.

“It was understood that (Vicinity) would work with B.C. Transit to provide compensation in the future,” said B.C. Transit in the claim.

About 18 months after the leaks were discovered, B.C. Transit demanded repairs on the first four buses be completed under warranty but Vicinity denied claims for two of them, it said.

A few months later, water damage was found in an additional 118 buses, according to the claim. It doesn’t say how many of 206 buses leaked but said as of August 2024, there were three or four years of warranty left on 142 of them and six to eight years left on 48 of them.

B.C. Transit said it faces costs and damages of more than $3.4 million and that it has spent $1.8 million on parts that Vicinity didn’t provide, as required by the contract.

The company owed $22 million to the Royal Bank of Canada when it was dissolved and delisted from NASDAQ, according to the Electric Autonomy Canada website.

A message left with a former Vicinity vice-president wasn’t returned.

B.C. Transit said in an email it wouldn’t comment on the active lawsuit. But the provincial Crown corporation said it has about 190 Vicinity buses operating in 28 communities in B.C., or about 20 per cent of its fleet.

“There is no impact to service at this time in any locations with Vicinity buses,” it said.

B.C. Transit didn’t say what happened to the remaining 16 Vicinity buses.