Hong Kong’s KMB looking to spend HK$200 million on seat belts for older buses
Government officials feel ‘positive’ about subsidising upgrades, transport operator tells safety panel formed after fatal double-decker crash in February
Hong Kong transport operator KMB is looking into spending at least HK$200 million (US$25.5 million) to install seat belts on more than 1,000 existing buses, a panel heard on Wednesday.
Government officials felt “positive” about the idea of subsidising the upgrades, the company’s chairman said, without elaborating.
The panel was told that KMB had been looking into installing seat belts on more than 1,000 double-deckers running long-haul routes. While newer buses came with seat belts on all seats, the same was not true for older double-deckers, the company said.
According to a Transport Department guideline from 2012, seat belts are required only for exposed seats and seats on the first row on the upper deck.
KMB set up rest facilities for drivers without permission, bus safety panel told
KMB representatives estimated the cost to upgrade each old bus at about HK$200,000, meaning the price of equipping more than 1,000 buses would exceed HK$200 million.