Buses World News

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

1.11.16

E-VEHICLE SUBSIDY FRAUD * China: By Suzhou Kinglong, e-bus maker

* Fujian - Suzhou Kinglong vows to revamp its operations in order to get back to the subsidy scheme

--- E-vehicle subsidy fraud: a crisis that could become opportunity... When a company has done something wrong, and is named and shamed by Chinese authorities, the best response is probably to accept the penalty, correct the mistakes and move on... That is exactly what Suzhou Kinglong is doing. The e-bus maker was one of those nailed last month for defrauding the government for new energy car subsidies... Last year, it applied for subsidies for more than 1,600 e-bus units that it had not finished making... For that it was asked to return about 500 million yuan (US$73.68 million) of subsidies and pay a fine equivalent to 50 percent of that amount... Also, the company won’t be eligible for future subsidies, until it has revamped its operations to the regulators’ satisfaction. But at least it gets to keep its e-vehicle production license... Suzhou Kinglong is one of China’s top e-bus makers, with a market share about 7 percent, according to Morgan Stanley...
(Photo from 21st Century Business Herald: Suzhou Kinglong buses on show) -- Xiamen, Fujian, China - ejinsight - Oct 28, 2016

Labels: busmakers news China, frauds

17.7.09

FRAUD * UK - Missing millions of free bus scheme

Transport Scotland has called in police to pursue rogue bus operators who have attempted to defraud millions of pounds through the government's concessionary travel scheme

Scotland,UK -The Herald, by DAMIEN HENDERSON -July 13 2009: -- ... The government agency has appealed for public help to identify suspect practices by bus operators and overhauled its procedures after evidence emerged of abuse under the flagship policy, which offered nationwide free bus travel to elderly and disabled passengers following its introduction in 2006... Bus operators have welcomed the initiative, warning that widespread abuse of the scheme could pile further pressure on an already overstretched budget and ultimately threaten its survival... Documents seen by The Herald show that the Transport Minister, Stewart Stevenson, was briefed in December 2007 that it was pursuing claims from four bus companies worth £2.2m that it believed to be suspect, warning that this could escalate to £3.3m in 2007/8 if not addressed... A spokeswoman for Transport Scotland said that suspect claims would not be paid until properly verified and that funding would be reduced from the following year's budget if paid in advance... The action was welcomed by the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK, which represents bus and coach organisations... (Picture from farm3.static.flickr: 27-2-08 - Scottish Citylink Bova Futura, bound for Stirling from Edinburgh)

Labels: frauds

6.2.09

FRAUD CASE * USA - City to Question Bus Companies in

New York,NY,USA -The New York Times, by PAUL von ZIELBAUER -February 3, 2009: -- The city’s Education Department plans to review whether nine school bus companies that transport a fifth of the New York City’s public school students are fit to do business with the city after allegations that they paid bribes to department inspectors, in some cases to allow overbilling of the department... Federal prosecutors said in court papers that the companies, which collected $185 million from the city in the last fiscal year, paid the bribes for preferential treatment like advance notice of inspections... The companies were named in court papers filed last fall in connection with the indictment last spring of four current or former city bus inspectors on bribery and extortion charges. The companies have not been criminally charged, and the investigation by the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan is continuing... (Photo by Uli Seit/The New York Times -Rainbow Transit, which has a contract to transport New York’s public school students, is one of nine bus companies accused of paying bribes to city inspectors)

Labels: frauds