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Overloaded buses spark safety fears
By Dong Zhen |
January 22, 2009, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A SIX-PERSON minibus packed with 16 passengers and a 55-seat coach with 75 passengers on board were just two of overloaded public transport vehicles caught by Shanghai Traffic Law Enforcement Team recently.
With nearly 200,000 people leaving Shanghai every day by bus heading home for the upcoming Chinese New Year, the transport watchdog is finding several buses deliberately overloading.
The watchdog is stopping the buses but letting them continue after they drop off the extra passengers. The authority will find them alternative transport. The watchdog is also deferring penalties so that buses and passengers can continue as quickly as possible to their destinations.
The watchdog says that while some operators were ignoring safety regulations to make bigger profits, some passengers asked to get off the buses had been very uncooperative.
"Quite a lot of passengers complain loudly when we stop these overloaded buses. The extra passengers have to get off and wait for the new buses we arrange so they can finish their journeys. They blame us for the delay and are sometimes unwilling to move," said Wu Runyuan, a spokesman for the Shanghai Traffic Law Enforcement Team.
Driver in custody
Enforcement team officers pulled over the minibus that was carrying 16 passengers instead of six on Monday. It was not licensed for passengers and the driver was charging each passenger 30 yuan for the journey from the Shanghai Railway Station to Kunshan in neighboring Jiangsu Province. The driver is now in police custody.
Last Friday, a 55-seat Anhui Province passenger bus was pulled over for carrying 75 riders. It was heading for Huoqiu in Anhui Province and passengers packed every spare inch of the vehicle, even sitting on the engine cover. When officers stopped the bus, they had trouble getting the doors open because it was so crowded.
The bus was licensed and the officers let it continue once the extra passengers were offloaded.
"The bus owner will have to pay the bill for transporting the extra passengers. We have also confiscated the vehicle license and the owner must come to our office to pay the fine before we return it," Wu said.
"This is just a temporary approach during the festival transport rush to avoid delaying people," he added.
Hundreds of officers from the watchdog are at major toll stations looking for overloaded and unlicensed buses.
They have checked more than 2,000 vehicles since the transport rush began on January 11 and have stopped 291 buses for various violations.
With nearly 200,000 people leaving Shanghai every day by bus heading home for the upcoming Chinese New Year, the transport watchdog is finding several buses deliberately overloading.
The watchdog is stopping the buses but letting them continue after they drop off the extra passengers. The authority will find them alternative transport. The watchdog is also deferring penalties so that buses and passengers can continue as quickly as possible to their destinations.
The watchdog says that while some operators were ignoring safety regulations to make bigger profits, some passengers asked to get off the buses had been very uncooperative.
"Quite a lot of passengers complain loudly when we stop these overloaded buses. The extra passengers have to get off and wait for the new buses we arrange so they can finish their journeys. They blame us for the delay and are sometimes unwilling to move," said Wu Runyuan, a spokesman for the Shanghai Traffic Law Enforcement Team.
Driver in custody
Enforcement team officers pulled over the minibus that was carrying 16 passengers instead of six on Monday. It was not licensed for passengers and the driver was charging each passenger 30 yuan for the journey from the Shanghai Railway Station to Kunshan in neighboring Jiangsu Province. The driver is now in police custody.
Last Friday, a 55-seat Anhui Province passenger bus was pulled over for carrying 75 riders. It was heading for Huoqiu in Anhui Province and passengers packed every spare inch of the vehicle, even sitting on the engine cover. When officers stopped the bus, they had trouble getting the doors open because it was so crowded.
The bus was licensed and the officers let it continue once the extra passengers were offloaded.
"The bus owner will have to pay the bill for transporting the extra passengers. We have also confiscated the vehicle license and the owner must come to our office to pay the fine before we return it," Wu said.
"This is just a temporary approach during the festival transport rush to avoid delaying people," he added.
Hundreds of officers from the watchdog are at major toll stations looking for overloaded and unlicensed buses.
They have checked more than 2,000 vehicles since the transport rush began on January 11 and have stopped 291 buses for various violations.
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