Fung Wah Bus Shut Down - Reminder to Always Bribe the Right People. (Boston: 2013, buy)

[sponger42]

On Tuesday, Massachusetts transportation officials sent Fung Wah a “cease and desist order” preventing it from operating out of its docks at South Station as long as the company’s own fleet of buses is grounded.

Fung Wah bus line stops rolling, for now - Business - The Boston Globe

I wonder what a similar inspection of Greyhound, Bolt Bus, Megabus, or even the freakin' Amtrack would find? Cheap fast rides to NYC were one of my two favorite things about Boston. Watch out, Haymarket, the health inspectors will be coming for you next, just as soon as Stop'nShop greases their palms a bit more.

It's not that I think Fung Wah is the safest way to travel, it's that I'm unconvinced that the more expensive carriers are any better. A better-looking paint job and 2-to-10X the cost doesn't mean the hardware is in any better shape or that the drivers are any better. I certainly couldn't maneuver a bus the way the Fung Wah guys do.

Further more, why isn't the Fung Wah company allowed to use charter buses? Can someone explain this, because it is the most fishy bit of this whole episode. If I, Joe Schmoe, can hire a charter bus to drive people to NYC and collect money from them, why can't an established bus line with years of constant operation and no fatal accidents? The feds only wanted the 20-odd buses, which showed signs of wear, off the road for "inspection". Why, now, is the local government demanding that they stop all operations? No news outlet is reporting anything about the line needing to be shut down entirely, just hardware inspections. The papers are citing a few incidents over the last decade of operations, but the Federal complaint doesn't seem to be about any of that.

Again, I buy that the Fung Wah buses might need repairs (along with everybody else's). So why can't they continue operations with charter busses? This sure sounds like corruption to me. Somebody's greedy and wants to stick it to Fung Wah and those of us who prefer cheap and fast to expensive and fancy.

[tikaram]

I think they stepped on somebody's toes big time... I remember reading horror stories about competing bus companies in china town, how one morning a driver was found with cut throat in the bus. But that must have been settled. Now "other guys" came after them it seems...
I and didn't see much difference with Greyhound and Peter pan etc in terms of quality of busses and driving. In the early stages they could have messed up with scheduling (just kept selling tickets, no matter how many, enough to fill 2 busses, but only had 1 and others had to wait for next) But that was some 10 years ago, and didn't seem an issue afterwards. I'm sad this happened and hope they will be back in biz again.

[MikePRU]

I don't take the bus to NYC so I can't speak to the differences between operators but it seems to me that Fung Wah was constantly in the news for buses catching fire, having accidents, and breaking down. I don't see that as frequently for any other bus companies so it came as no surprise to me that the company was shut down. Although, I'm surprised to hear they weren't allowed to keep running using someone else's buses.

[civic94]

hmm.. lucky star (the other chinese owned bus company offering $15 rides) just got lucky. as long as fung wah is out, they will make bank.



i think theres more fishy things going on, i mean not every single bus had cracked frames. competition is fierce... some one probably pissed someone off.

[bostonguy1960]

Years ago, I rode the FW bus as well as their competitor to NYC a few times one year.

Both were satisfactory, I guess, and even the a/c worked fine. However, I've heard horror stories of the cheap buses speeding; I wouldn't expect that with the bigger names. Unsure if it's still an issue at times.

I simply didn't like that the driver didn't seem to speak English, at leadt not well enough to communicate via microphone at the start of the trip, never mind no instructions when stopping in CT for a Chinese takeout buffet. There was no mention of how long we had until expected back on the bus. Not sure if it was FW or its competitor in this case...

I like Bonanza/Peter Pan buses to Providence. The driver is more Americanized, and actually speaks through the microhone before rolling away, mentioning no smoking or loud devices. Seems more professional as a result.

[civic94]

Originally Posted by bostonguy1960

Years ago, I rode the FW bus as well as their competitor to NYC a few times one year.

Both were satisfactory, I guess, and even the a/c worked fine. However, I've heard horror stories of the cheap buses speeding; I wouldn't expect that with the bigger names. Unsure if it's still an issue at times.

I simply didn't like that the driver didn't seem to speak English, at leadt not well enough to communicate via microphone at the start of the trip, never mind no instructions when stopping in CT for a Chinese takeout buffet. There was no mention of how long we had until expected back on the bus. Not sure if it was FW or its competitor in this case...

I like Bonanza/Peter Pan buses to Providence. The driver is more Americanized, and actually speaks through the microhone before rolling away, mentioning no smoking or loud devices. Seems more professional as a result.

you really get what you pay for, the peter pan busses are 30 bucks, and for double the price the drivers get paid better, maintenance is better, and so on.

I can see that for the chinatown busses, the drivers probably have a choice of working in a resturaunt all day, or get a CDL and drive a bus for low pay. and for those who can speak english and have a CDL, they will find an employer who will pay them better. its all economics, if you want to save a buck, there are risks, such as a wheel falling off or bus catching on fire due to lack of maintenance. the has been so many safety violations on fung wah in the past, and its all up to the passenger to decide. I would say 99.99 % of the time its good, but there is that small 00.01 chance of sh*t happening, since there are many trips made per day and nothing happens.

[sponger42]

I've ridden Fung Wah about 8 times in the past year and never had an incident. They stop at the same rest stop for the same 10 minute break every time. I'm pretty sure they announced "10 minute stop" in English every time. Nobody was carrying livestock, and there weren't any more disruptions than that one passenger who decides to share his head cold with everyone. But he/she is on every form of flight/train/bus.

What's great is that you can show up at South Station or in Chinatown NY with no advance notice and buy a ticket for the same price. When I showed up late one time and the bus was full, they pulled another one around within 10 minutes of the first departing.

You can tell that the other bus operators and the station managers hate them, though. There's always some official giving them a hard time and shooting the passengers dirty looks. On the surface it seems like racism, but maybe they have some legitimate beef I don't know about.

Considering that two buses have crashed in the past few days, Fung Wah seems like a pretty safe bet looking at their record. The local news certainly hates them. The stories in NY papers are much more ambivilant while the Globe and local TV are running very negative pieces.

I still want to know why they aren't allowed to drive charter buses, so I speculate about corruption. If anybody has any actual insight, let us know.

[Cliff Clavin]

Originally Posted by sponger42

I still want to know why they aren't allowed to drive charter buses, so I speculate about corruption. If anybody has any actual insight, let us know.

Weren't they using charter buses the other day? Thought I saw that on Channel 5 news.

Agree on all your other points. Excellent service for the money. I use them everytime I head to NYC (that's not on the company dime ) and never once had an issue. And all the drivers I've had have always spoke English.

Hope they're back up and running soon.

[bUU]

I'm surprised that operations that are specifically designed to bypass reasonable standards our society has set forth for regular bus transportation are allowed to continue to operate, at all. They found a loophole and exploited it. Society's proper response should have been to close the loophole.

[joebloe]

Maybe Fung Wah use non-union drivers? I wouldn't be surprised if it's a union hit job.