: The Consumer Association of Penang has called for the reinforcement of regulations for express and tour buses by the Transport Ministry following the recent bus tour bus crash on Jalan Genting-Bentong which killed two Chinese nationals.New Straits TimesCAP president Mohideen Abdul Kader urges the the police, Transport Ministry, and the Road Transport Department to immediately address the issue to assure confidence in passengers.
With this, CAP proposed to blacklist express and tour bus company directors from operating, bringing up Section 45 of the Land Public Transport Act 2010 which can cancel or suspend these business licences under the authority of the Land Public Transport Agency .Furthermore, CAP also suggests the integration of summons and traffic violation data, also compiling road tax and licence expiry dates.
The association also suggested the issuance of stickers that indicate when the vehicles were last inspected by Puspakom, as well as indicating the next inspection date and a “whistleblower hotline”, as quoted. These stickers will be displayed near the vehicle doors. Furthermore, Mohideen brought up the topic of express buses being equipped with “mandatory GPS monitoring systems”, as quoted, as it was made a requirement since 2008.Not only that, he added on the issue of bus drivers involved in accidents mainly occuring during night time due to microsleep, pushing for bus drivers to have a co-driver for journeys over 300km which is also a legal requirement often violated due to income concerns.