Sunday, May 25, 2008

JPJ seizes 10 Konsortium buses

IPOH: The Road Transport Department (JPJ) has seized 10 Konsortium Bas Ekspres Semenanjung Sdn Bhd buses since its recent ban.

It also confiscated the travel documents of another bus.

JPJ enforcement chief Salim Parlan said the buses had been found plying roads and highways in Kuala Lumpur, Pahang, Kedah, Malacca and Johor despite a month-long ban on its operations until June 13.

“The most recent bus we seized was in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday,” he told reporters yesterday after a JPJ community programme with the orang asli in Pos Raya, about 30km from here.

“In Terengganu, we only confiscated the documents as the bus was stationary at the terminal.”

The Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB) recently banned all buses of the company for ignoring safety measures.

The suspension came into effect on May 14 after an inquiry revealed many of the company’s buses were involved in road accidents.

He said following the end of the suspension period, the CVLB check the company before making its recommendations.

Salim, who is also a CVLB board member, added it was looking into other bus companies before deciding if similar action should be taken against them.

“Because such inquiries are very exhaustive and involves many parties, it might take some time before we know if others will have similar action taken against them,” he added.

He also clarified that although the body of the buses was “Konsortium Bas Ekspres”, it did not mean they were those of Konsortium Bas Ekspres Semenanjung Sdn Bhd because the company and its two sister companies, Super Coach Liner and Stoneway Corporation, operated under the banner name of Konsortium Bas Bhd.

The public, Salim said, could tell to whom the bus belonged to by looking at the name and address printed at the bottom corner of the vehicle.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

One-month ban for ‘bad record’ bus operator


ALOR STAR: All 232 express buses owned by Syarikat Konsortium Bas Ekspres Semenanjung Bhd have been grounded a month for having a “bad track record”.

Road Transport Department (JPJ) enforcement director Salim Parlan said the suspension effective Wednesday would end on June 16.

He said the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB) made the decision after its inquiry revealed that many of the company’s buses were involved in road accidents.

“We will station our enforcement officers at all 36 bus terminals in the country to ensure the suspension order is complied with,” he said on Thursday night.

He said JPJ had detained a bus in Puduraya and two buses in the Medan Gopeng bus terminal in Ipoh after the company was found to have defied the suspension order.

Hundreds of passengers were stranded at Puduraya yesterday when they found that they could not board any of the various Konsortium buses parked at the platforms.

Last August, four passengers were killed after the bus they were in overturned into a ditch on the North-South Expressway.