A burning bus has caused gridlock on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during peak hour.
The fire has been extinguished and police said the bus had been towed away.
Several lanes have been reopened, but traffic in the area is still congested.
Officers said between 20 and 30 passengers and the driver are off the bus, and three were treated for minor smoke inhalation.
Simeon was in a taxi driving past the scene and said the fire “smelt terrible”.
“The windows had blown out, the window frames all black, the whole place smelling like soot because we left the windows of our taxi down,” he said.
“The back of the bus was almost non-existent.”
Northbound and city-bound lanes of the bridge were closed at the time, but some lanes have since reopened.
The Transport Management Centre (TMC) said there was no forecast for when all the lanes of the bridge would be open.
However, the TMC is still advising motorists to stay away from the bridge, with extensive delays along all approaches.
The fire is also having a flow-on effect elsewhere, with delays in the CBD, the Lane Cove Tunnel on the Eastern Distributor and along Military Road at Mosman.
TMC spokeswoman Bronwyn Martin said people using public transport should catch the train or ferry instead, and motorists should use the Anzac Bridge.
“We’re really asking people to stay right away from the Harbour Bridge whether they are driving or whether they are planning on catching a bus,” she said.
“At one stage they actually had to shut all of the lanes of the Harbour Bridge to put out this bus fire.
“There are extensive delays right throughout the city and that’s because this has happened right at peak hour.”
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