Safety Review - Executive Summary

The Review on Safety Arrangement to Enhance Road and Passenger Safety, as requested by the Transport Department for all franchised public bus operators, denoted the unique characteristics of the services of New Lantao Bus Co. (1973) Ltd. (“NLB”), including the topography, gradient and road conditions of its routes.

An analysis of NLB’s historical record of accidents and characteristics reveal a below-average accident rate comparing to industry average, partly as a result of NLB’s additional awareness of safety in view of its uniqueness in operation. The analysis of accidents in 2002/2003 shows that there was no direct correlations between accident rates and drivers’ age, years of service and working hours. It was also found that about to-third of the accidents were not attributable to the drivers.

NLB adopts a cautious and thorough recruitment process and provides stringent entry-level training for all newly recruited drivers. In addition, continuous in-service training would enable the drivers to improve their driving skill. Recently, there have been programmes to improve customer relations.

One of the long-term objectives in safety enhancement would be to rationalize drivers’ working hours. This would be conducted through careful scheduling, without hampering the quality of service. We have reviewed the bus driver working schedule and are providing a minimum break of 9 hours between successive working days from drivers.

New buses will be equipped with speed limiting devices and blackboxes. Blackboxes have been retrofitted in some of our buses to monitor speeding and other traffic offences. Other areas that require vigil attention include passenger safety on board and vehicle maintenance.

NLB will also work closely with other franchised public bus operators and the Transport Department, including launching education and publicity programmes to promote safety awareness of drivers and passengers for the benefits of its passengers and the general public.