Buses World News

In brief: Worldwide montly news & informations about Buses, Busmakers, Passengers' and the Transport Industry

31.3.16

SAFETY: AIRPLANES vs. BUSES * USA

* New York - One reason airplanes are far safer than buses and trucks

... The next time you struggle to nap on a long-haul flight, take some comfort in the fact that your pilot is probably sleeping more soundly than you are... Thanks to federal regulations, pilots never fly more than nine hours at a time, always have backup “relief pilots” and designated beds on long flights, and have limits on the number of weekly hours they can work. This means pilots are among the best-rested people working in commercial transportation — certainly more so than truck drivers, for instance — and rarely deal with the issue of drowsy or sleep-deprived performance... The Federal Aviation Administration announced a sweeping overhaul of pilot scheduling rules in 2011 in order to ensure that pilots have more time for rest before they enter the cockpit. Among other changes, the minimum mandatory downtime between flights was increased from eight hours to ten hours... The FAA regulations are based on the sleep science of circadian rhythms — the body’s 24-hour sleep-wake cycle, or “body clock” — and account for time zone differences. They mandate 30 consecutive off-duty hours each week, so a pilot will never work a seven-day week. The regulations also take sleep norms into account, Dennis Tajer, a spokesman of the Allied Pilots Association, told the Huffington Post, so pilots working the “back end of the clock,” such as an all-night shift, will get even more rest time...
NY, USA - The Huffington Post, by Krithika Varagur - 30 March 2016

Labels: bus safety rules

4.12.14

RULES & REGULATIONS * Vietnam: Safety roads

* Vietnam - Limits sleeper bus routes following tragedies

(Photo: Ha An - The roof of the bus involved in an accident in Lao Cai Province on September 1 that killed 12 people. Photo: Ha AnThe roof of the bus involved in an accident in Lao Cai Province on September 1 that killed 12 people)
Hanoi,Vietnam -Thanh Nien News -December 02, 2014: -- The Transport Ministry has issued a circular that bans the operation of passenger sleeper buses on narrow mountainous roads starting in July of 2015... According to the document, transport companies are not allowed to run sleeper buses on roads classified as 5th and 6th grades for safety reasons... These roads have a single lane that is 3.5 meters wide with designed for speeds of no more than 30 kph (18.6 mph) in 5th grade and 20 kph in 6th grade... The circular also requires transport companies to employ sleeper bus drivers with at least three years experience in driving large passenger buses (30 seats and over)... According to the National Traffic Safety Committee, 90 percent of bus accidents last year involved sleeper buses... Traffic accidents have killed more than 6,800 Vietnamese so far this year, or 25 people every day...

Labels: bus safety rules

26.6.14

SAFETY BUSES * Singapore

* Singapore - LTA looking into issue of blind spots on big buses

(Photo by KUA CHEE SIONG: A tour group boarding a bus)
Singapore -The Strait Times, by ROYSTON SIM -June 25, 2014: -- Guidelines and standards for large buses are to be examined to see if more can be done to help their drivers observe blind spots, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said yesterday. The announcement came a day after a coroner's inquiry into the death of three-year-old Kryshan Nirmal Kumar - who was run over by a bus at a cemetery off Old Chu Kang Road last December - suggested that the placement and design of blind spot mirrors for buses should be examined... Bus operators yesterday also acknowledged that more can be done to tackle the problem. They say one option is to install cameras, and the Singapore School Transport Association has met a government agency to discuss funding for them...

Labels: bus safety rules

26.4.14

* SAFETY BUSES * USA

* California - Feds revisit safety rules after fiery bus crash

(Photo by JEREMY LOCKETT/AP: A charter bus erupted in flames after a FedEx truck crashed into the vehicle head-on on a California highway last week) Red Bluff,CAL,USA -AO/Manufacturing Net, by Fenit Nirappil and Joan Lowy in Washington, D.C./Terry Chea in San Francisco/Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles -14 April 2014: -- Federal transportation authorities are investigating ways to minimize death and injuries in bus crashes following the fiery wreck leaving 10 dead when a FedEx truck slammed into a bus carrying high school students in Northern California... On Thursday, the truck driver veered across the Interstate 5 median, sideswiped a sedan and collided with the bus, leaving no tire marks to suggest he had applied his brakes. Dozens of injured students escaped through windows before the vehicles exploded into towering flames and billowing smoke in Orland, Calif., 100 miles north of Sacramento. The sedan driver told investigators the truck was in flames before the crash, but the National Transportation Safety Board investigators found no physical evidence of a pre-impact fire or other witnesses to confirm that account... The bus' black box-style electronic control module was recovered, and investigators will use other tools to reconstruct the truck's speed and maneuvers. Blood tests can tell if the drivers were impaired. The investigation will also review maintenance records and the drivers' medical histories...

Labels: bus safety rules

23.3.12

SAFER BUS APP * USA

* DC - Traveling by motor coach? Look Before You Book with the new SaferBus Mobile App

(SaferBus)

Washington,DC,USA -US DOT (PR) -20 March 2012: -- It is a great pleasure to announce that DOT is putting a terrific commercial bus safety tool in the hands of the people who can use it best: passengers... The SaferBus App delivers the latest bus safety information from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Safety Measurement System to your iPhone or iPad so before buying a bus ticket or while you're waiting to board, you can review the safety record of the bus line you're considering... The app is free and very simple to use. Just type in the bus company’s name or US DOT registration number, and a set of icons on your screen will indicate whether that company has crossed a safety threshold in any of five important categories. Drill down with one quick tap, and you can learn more about a company's safety record in each of our Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICS), including:
* Unsafe Driving...
* Fatigued Driving (Hours-of-Service)...
* Driver Fitness...
* Controlled Substances and Alcohol...
* Vehicle Maintenance...

The information the app sends to your mobile device covers the past 24 months of activity, and results are updated monthly...

Labels: bus safety rules

6.5.09

BUSES' SAFETY * USA - Utah bus crash prompts DOT orders review

Washington,DC,USA -AP –30 April 2009: -- Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Thursday ordered a review of bus safety in response to a Utah crash in January 2008 that killed nine people and injured 43 others returning from a weekend ski trip... The Transportation Department said that a plan to improve motorcoach safety will be created from the findings of the review... The National Transportation Safety Board said at a hearing last week said the driver fatigue was the probable cause of the crash near Mexican Hat, Utah. The board also said that a protracted delay by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in implementing motorcoach safety recommendations made a decade ago contributed to the severity of the accident... Those recommendations included strengthening motorcoach roofs and steps to keep passengers in their seats in event of a rollover, including possibly requiring seatbelts...

* Bus company has good record - Random inspections in past two years result in highest possible rating

Monterey,CA,USA -The Monterey County Herald, by MARIE VASARI -30 April 2009: -- The Orange County tour bus company involved in Tuesday's fatal wreck on Highway 101 had a satisfactory safety rating with no reported crashes and a clean inspection record on its vehicles and drivers in the past two years... Orion Pacific passed 14 random roadside vehicle inspections during that time, which resulted in none of its vehicles being pulled out of service, according to federal Department of Transportation records. The company, whose legal name is Weeks Enterprises Inc., passed six driver inspections with no problems reported... The Orange-based interstate carrier operates a fleet of 12 passenger motor coaches staffed by 18 drivers and has up-to-date insurance with $5 million coverage as the law requires. The company hasn't returned calls since Tuesday's accident that killed five people and sent more than 30 French tourists to hospitals...

Labels: bus safety rules

4.1.09

SEAT BELTS * WORLDWIDE

* Malaysia - Express bus passengers may be the next to belt up

Kuala Lampur,Malaysia -NST On Line -4 Jan 2009: -- Passengers in express buses may have to buckle up soon as the Road Transport Department is planning to introduce more safety precautions... At the moment, the department and the police are focused on enforcing the rear seat belt ruling for private vehicles. However, the second phase of the plan, which will require those on buses to belt up, is not far away... RTD director-general Datuk Solah Mat Hassan said the department would have to wait for feedback on the rear seat belt law before moving on to the second phase...

* Tanzania - Police announces mandatory seat belts on commuter buses

Dar es Salaam,United Republic of Tanzania -The DailyNewsOnline, by JIANG ALIPO -January 04, 2009: -- All commuter buses in the country will be required to have seat belts and all passengers are required to fasten their belts all the time they are travelling on public transport, the police force has announced... The Chief Traffic Police, Mr James Kombe, told the 'Sunday News' that the move was aimed at reducing number of deaths and fatal injuries currently occurring in the country during road accidents. He said that such a requirement had already been incorporated into the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (SUMATRA)...

* USA - Seat belts to be in more Dallas area school buses

Dallas,TX,USA -The Dallas Morning News, by MATTHEW HAAG -January 2, 2009: -- Some buses serving Dallas County schools will soon have seat belts installed despite an ongoing debate about their effectiveness on school buses... Dallas County Schools already has installed shoulder-lap seat belts on two buses that serve DISD elementary schools in North Dallas. This month, the agency expects to receive 70 new large buses equipped with lap-shoulder belts similar to those in passenger cars, officials said...

Labels: bus safety rules

4.11.08

SAFETY * USA - Texas charter bus probe focuses on shuttered Dallas firm

Houston,TX,USA -The Houston Chronicle, by TERRI LANGFORD & JAMES PINKERTON -Oct. 31, 2008: -- Texas transportation officials, spurred by a national safety investigation into a fatal Houston charter bus crash near Victoria, are looking into why that bus and 22 others from companies across the state were registered through a Dallas bus company shut down this summer by federal regulators... Texas Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kim Sue Lia Perkes confirmed that the license plate registrations of at least 23 buses, all tied to the Dallas address of Green River Buses, were turned over this week to the Texas Department of Public Safety for further investigation... Also, at least 17 of those buses are Mexican-made, prompting questions as to whether they were built to U.S. safety standards and whether they entered this country legally... "TxDOT is vigilant about how we go about registering motorcoaches that come into our borders from Mexico," Perkes said. "We do everything we can to ensure the motorcoaches on Texas' highways and roads are safe"... The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ordered Green River Buses of Dallas to shut down in August. The company also had been ordered to do so in April...

Labels: bus safety rules

13.10.08

SAFETY * USA - Board reviews foreign-made bus regulations

Washington,DC,USA -The Huffington Post Wires, by SUZANNE GAMBOA -October 7, 2008: — The federal investigation of a fatal Texas bus crash zeroed in Tuesday on foreign-made passenger buses that operate in the U.S. but don't meet minimum U.S. safety standards... Witness testimony revealed shortcomings in safety regulations and enforcement intended to ensure the buses are not used to carry passengers on U.S. roads... Debbie Hersman, a National Transportation Safety Board member, said the regulations are a patchwork enforced by different agencies... No motorcoaches are made in the U.S., Hersman said. She suggested companies purchase buses that don't comply with federal standards because they are cheaper. The price for a bus that meets U.S. safety rules is about $425,000, compared to about $211,000 for the bus in the Texas crash, she said...(Photo: Texas' fatal bus crash)

* Heavy buses need some support

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Los Angeles Times, by Shelby Grad -October 7, 2008: -- Apparently, humans aren't the only ones with a weight problem. MTA buses are getting heavier, and that's prompted officials to spend the next two months building special "pads" along Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood... According to WeHo News, the concrete pads will protect the roadway surface from damage but could cause traffic delays. Without it, the road in front of the bus stops could sink, reports Ryan Gierach: "Traffic on WeHo’s main drag, Santa Monica Boulevard, will slow during the months of October and November while Los Angeles Metro installs concrete bus pads to save wear and tear on the roadbed. Beginning today, a total of nine new bus pads will be installed along Santa Monica Boulevard, with two on Fairfax Avenue at Santa Monica Boulevard, to accommodate the new articulated “double length” busses MTA has recently deployed along the commuter route..."

* Charter Buses Must Have Proper Permits

Sacramento,CAL,USA -News 10, by Karen Massie -8 Oct 2008: -- There are numerous questions about the fatal charter bus crash of gamblers headed to a Colusa casino Sunday evening... News 10 has learned driver Quintin Joey Watts, 52, of Stockton had a commercial license to drive trucks. But Watts, who was injured in the crash, didn't have the Class B license that would allow him to drive a bus carrying 42 passengers... The crash killed eight and injured 35. More than 20 remained hospitalized Tuesday... The owner of the charter bus company, Daniel Cobb, 68, of Sacramento and Modesto, died when the bus flipped over and ended in a ditch off Lone Star Road in Colusa County... Susan Carothers with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said Cobb was properly licensed to drive the bus and had been licensed with the CPIC since 1974. Carothers added that Cobb "only had one 47-passenger bus on file with the CPUC"... People acquainted with Cobb's business told News 10 he had about four or five buses he was operating... (Photo: Charter bus owned by Cobb Bus Service was bought from Greyhound two years ago)

* NTSB told of trade loophole for Mexico buses in U.S. - Panel looking into Victoria-area crash told of how coaches can bypass American safety rules

Washington,DC,USA -The Houston Chronicle (Houston,TX), by TERRI LANGFORD -Oct. 9, 2008: -- Mexican-made buses are getting across the border and past U.S. safety requirements because they are involved in international trade and are not considered imports, a federal inquiry revealed on Wednesday... On Jan. 2, the Volvo bus owned by Capricorn Bus Lines Inc. was returning Houston residents from holidays spent in Monterrey, Mexico... The bus driver and passengers were checked for their legal status and documents at the Laredo crossing... But no motor vehicle inspectors — either from Texas or the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration — were on duty to check the bus's legal status... Even if they had, it's not likely that they would have noticed anything out of the ordinary... Inspectors don't have access to comprehensive databases that might have revealed the suspicious way this bus was registered through a Dallas company and that it never had import documents... Four hours later, the bus crashed near Victoria, killing one man and injuring 46 others...

Labels: bus safety rules

2.10.08

SAFETY BUSES * USA - We can make riding bus safer

Legislation would require rollover protections, safety belts on all seats

Houston,TX,USA -The Houston Chronicle, by SEN. KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON -Sept. 27, 2008: -- Each year, millions of Americans climb aboard buses, expecting safe trips across their communities or states... The vast majority of these bus passengers arrive safe and sound at their destination. But this is not always the case because, whether due to mechanical malfunction or driver error, bus accidents do occur and many of them result in preventable tragedy... To help reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by motorcoach accidents, and to save more families the grief and sadness of losing a loved one, I have joined with Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio to author a sweeping bus safety bill... Overall, the bill would strengthen the operational requirements of drivers and companies, provide stronger oversight and compliance with federal safety rules, and encourage better training of bus operators to protect passengers from death and injury due to ejection, rollover, roof crush and fires...

Labels: bus safety rules

20.8.08

NEW RULES * Canada - Province adopts federal bus standards

Education ministry will decide if vehicles can be used by schools

Vancouver,BC,Canada -Canwest News Service/The Vancouver Sun, by Jonathan Fowlie & Linda Nguyen -August 14, 2008: -- British Columbia will adopt new federal safety standards announced Wednesday that create a new class of vehicle meant for use on small school outings such as field trips and sport events... But it was not immediately clear whether the new standard will be used to force other vehicles -- such as controversial 15-passenger vans -- out of the province's school fleets... Transportation Ministry representative Dave Crebo said B.C. will recognize the new standards, but that it would be up to the education ministry to determine their use for B.C. schools...

Labels: bus safety rules

14.8.08

RULES * Canada - New standards proposed for 15-passenger vans

Don Mills,Ontario,Canada -Canwest News Service, by Linda Nguyen -August 13, 2008: -- The Canadian Standards Association has published new voluntary safety guidelines for 15-passenger vans, seven months after seven high school basketball players and a teacher were killed in a van crash in Bathurst, N.B.... The new standards, released Wednesday, were designed to apply to a proposed category of multi-functional vehicles... Though not school buses, this new class of vehicle would be used to transport groups of school-aged children on field trips, sporting events and extracurricular activities... The standards suggests that these vehicles be constructed to meet school bus guidelines in terms of their joint strength, crashworthiness, rollover protection, emergency exits and compartmentalization... Other safety standards commonly found on school buses such as warning lamps or stop arms were not included in the standards...

Labels: bus safety rules

4.2.08

RULES * Canada - EIPS approves new guidelines for 15-seat van use

Sherwood Park,Alberta,Canada -The Sherwood Park News, by Amy Dyck -February 01, 2008: -- In the wake of the New Brunswick tragedy, Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) has put forward and approved recommendations for new guidelines with regards to school use of 15-passenger vans... As recently as early last week, EIPS had put forth new restrictions for the use of the 15-seat vans, specifically using the vans only within town or city limits, with the exception of travel between Sherwood Park and Ardrossan and Sherwood Park and Edmonton... However, in last Thursday’s January board meeting, EIPS’ trustees swiftly approved several new recommendations to address transportation concerns and issues regarding the use of these vans, even though it wasn’t originally written as part of the January board meeting’s agenda...

Labels: bus safety rules

9.11.07

Bus Safety Rules * USA - Senators Propose New ones

Toledo,OH,USA -The Guardian Unltd. (London,UK), by JOHN SEEWER -November 8, 2007: -- Two U.S. senators, motivated by a bus crash that killed five college baseball players, on Thursday proposed requiring seat belts on long-haul buses... The proposed legislation also would require changes to bus windows that would help prevent passengers from being thrown out of the vehicles during accidents... Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, also want better training for drivers, stronger bus roofs that would hold up in rollover accidents and more protection against fire. The legislation would reduce deaths and injuries in bus accidents, they said... (Photo by Gene Blythe/AP - Witnesses said the bus seemed to lose control as it turned off the exit and crashed through the fence onto the highway below)

Labels: bus safety rules