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R.I.P. Fung Wah: Feds Pull Chinatown Bus License
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Mar 2, 2013
Modified Mar 15, 2013
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Flickr user JPChan
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Mar 2, 2013
Modified Mar 15, 2013
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Well, it looks like Fung Wah is finally dead. The federal government has revoked the low-cost Chinatown bus service's license, just a few days after state inspectors in Massachusetts called the carrier an "imminent hazard," and it doesn't look like the buses will be back on the road anytime soon.
Fung Wah's had its fair share of troubles over the years, with recent disasters including a Massachusetts highway crashed that injured 33 people, a crash in Pennsylvania that killed two passengers in 2007. A pedestrian was killed when a bus jumped a curb on Canal Street in 2008, and two more pedestrians were fatally run over by a Fung Wah bus in Chinatown earlier this year. Earlier this week, the Transportation Department pulled Fung Wah's buses from the road after state inspectors in Massachusetts found the fleet riddled with serious hazards like cracked frames, faulty airbags, broken doors and oil leaks.
The company was able to lease out other buses, though, and continued to operate until yesterday, when it was shuttered at long last by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The feds have been steadily tightening regulations on low-cost bus carriers recently, but Fung Wah is the first one to have its authority to operate revoked. And while the $15-a-pop trips to and from Boston will be certainly be missed, companies like Megabus and Bolt Bus still run cheap trips all over the Northeast, and it's a little less likely one of those bus doors will fall off somewhere on the I-84.
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Chinatown
fung wah
safety
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Rebecca Fishbein
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