506 bus-related road incidents logged in first seven months

From January to July this year, the city recorded 506 traffic incidents involving public buses, 255 of which held the means of transport accountable for the incident, the Transport Advisory Committee has announced.

Although more than half of all bus-related incidents held the public bus accountable, the committee employed another way to present the ratio. According to it, per 100,000 km, only 0.9 road incidents both involved a public bus and held a public bus accountable. It added that a drop from 1.1 incidents per 100,000 km in 2021 had been recorded.

Some committee members attributed the drop to “the two bus companies’ persistence in improving the handling of safety and adding safety measures,” adding that they hope the operators can continue putting safety first and improving bus services.

Regarding daily bus services, the committee disclosed that in the first eight months, there were about 8,800 bus departures per day on average, which was a 7% drop year over year. In addition, the Transport Bureau discovered that the waiting time has lengthened at certain bus stops during peak hours in the first half of the year.

While the bus operators received in the first half of the year a fair review of their services, some committee members found the review channels not very representative, as they thought bus services had improved in the said period. AL