Bus drivers 'forced to break limits'
Bus drivers are sometimes forced to break the speed limit in order to meet very tight schedules or risk disciplinary action, a drivers' union member said yesterday.
But the managing director of his company dismissed the claim.
The comments came after an accident on Saturday in which a KMB double-decker on its way to Wan Chai flipped over on the West Kowloon Highway, injuring 37 people, including the driver.
No one has been arrested or charged over the accident, the second major one involving buses on highways in three months.
In July, 21 people died and 20 were injured when a KMB double-decker hit a truck on Tuen Mun Road and plunged 50 metres down a hillside.
Chu Pun-din, vice-chairman of the Motor Transport Workers General Union and director of the union's New World First Bus branch, said drivers had to operate different routes within one shift, which he believed could pose a safety threat.
'Bus drivers in general are under great pressure to meet schedules because they are tightly set,' he said.
'It is even more so for drivers operating cross-harbour routes because they face traffic jams more often. They would have to drive faster than normal to make up lost time.'
But Adolf Hsu Hsung, managing director of New World First Bus, said his drivers had enough time for their trips. They also had enough rest and training to cope with the demands of the work.
