Hong Kong bus drivers’ working hours in question after fatal crash
Citybus representatives apologised to victims’ families at district council meeting after last week’s fatal double-decker crash
Nearly one-fifth of the 3,700 drivers at the two major bus companies in the city work at least 12 hours a day, operators told a district council meeting on last week’s fatal double-decker crash that killed three people and injured 33 others.
Representatives of Citybus, operator of the ill-fated bus, bowed to apologise to the victims and the families of the deceased at the Sham Shui Po District Council meeting on Thursday.
Three dead and two critical after bus mounts pavement in one of Hong Kong’s busiest districts
The route E21A double-decker swerved onto a pedestrian corner at the junction of Cheung Sha Wan Road and Yen Chow Street in the heart of the district last Friday. Eight of the injured victims remained in hospital on Thursday.
William Chung Chak-man and Chow Yat-shing, development director and insurance manager of Citybus stood in silence for a minute as a tribute was observed at the beginning of the meeting.
The duo apologised to the victims and their families before Chung addressed questions from the council, among which most were on the unfairness and potential danger of the long working hours of bus drivers.
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Chung disclosed that 18 per cent of some 3,700 Citybus and New World First Bus drivers worked more than 12 hours a day, including five per cent who worked more than 13 hours.