Fung Wah Will Resume Operations in 2015
The notorious Fung Wah Bus Transportation company will be resuming operations next year after reaching an agreement with the federal government.
The problem-plagued bus line once offered customers $10 for a one-way trip between Boston and New York. But a host of safety problems prompted federal authorities to shut it down last year.
According to The Boston Globe, the company reached an agreement to resume operations with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). The FMCSA revoked Fung Wah’s license in 2013 after the agency claimed the company blocked federal investigators from accessing its safety records.
Now, the FMCSA website indicates that Fung Wah has been granted permission to operate again.
Fung Wah president Pei Lin Liang said in a statement:
“We are in the process of working with federal, state and local authorities to demonstrate that a new page has been turned … We understand that the bar is high for our company and we are excited to have the opportunity to demonstrate that we can operate in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.’’
The company told The Globe it needs “at least two weeks’’ to get back up and running.
In March 2013, Massachusetts safety officials found several serious violations in Fung Wah’s fleet, including broken doors, cracked frames, and doctored safety reports.
According to Reason, the company spent $400,000 after it was closed to overhaul its fleet, retrain drivers, and hire a full-time safety manager. It spent the next six months trying to convince federal regulators to allow it to resume operations.
In case you’ve forgotten what landed the Fung Wah company in hot water, here’s a quick trip down memory lane:
• In 2005, a total of 45 passengers escaped from a bus before it caught fire on a highway.
• In 2006, about 30 passengers were injured when a Fung Wah bus overturned on I-290.
• In 2007, a bus carrying 35 passengers crashed into a guardrail near the Allston-Brighton tolls on the Mass. Pike.
• In 2008, a Fung Wah bus was involved in a collision with a dump truck in New York City. The incident left one pedestrian dead and six others injured.
We’ll have to wait until 2015 to see what kind of lessons the company has learned during its time off the road.
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