SINGAPORE and KUALA LUMPUR: Singaporean Vincent Ong was asleep on a bus heading for Kuala Lumpur (KL) when he was awakened by a “loud bang” at about 3:50 a.m. on the North-South Expressway.
The bus had collided with a motorcycle, which went under the front of the bus and burst into flames. When Ong opened his eyes, he saw “sparks at the front of the windscreen”.
“A lot of the passengers were still fast asleep,” he recounted. “I shouted out … ‘Get out of the bus!’”
The driver had to kick open the front door “because it’d malfunctioned, because of the collision or the fire”. Then the passengers “started walking out”, continued Ong, who was seated “somewhere in the middle”.
“There was no instruction for us to use the emergency exit door at the back,” he said. “I would’ve gone that way instead of towards a fire.”
Talking Point host Diana Ser with Vincent Ong.
Seated next to the emergency exit was an Indian family, who were the last to exit and were “badly burnt”, he recalled. A 17-year-old girl died in the incident in January, and two of her family members were seriously injured.
The bus had a crew of three — a driver, a co-driver and a conductor — but Ong felt that they were “unclear (about) the safety procedure in emergencies such as this, where there’s a fire”.
“A 17-year-old girl could’ve been saved,” he said. “She would’ve easily exited from (the rear) and be alive today.”
Buses like the one he took, which offer long-haul services between Singapore and cities in Malaysia, are commonly known as express buses.
Between 2022 and this March, there were at least 32 reports of express bus accidents. Nine of these cases involved passengers from Singapore.
The programme Talking Point finds out just how safe these rides are, what more can be done and what travellers should do if they meet with an accident in Malaysia.
For popular routes such as Singapore to KL, checks on ticketing platforms such as BusOnlineTicket, Easybook and redBus found that about 20 per cent of the buses depart between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
But about two-thirds of the accidents reported between 2022 and this year happened during these hours.
As part of her investigation into the issue, Talking Point host Diana Ser took an overnight bus to KL. And the first thing she had to do was change seats thrice to find a seat belt that worked.
Wearing seat belts on express buses is compulsory, so she “didn’t expect it to be so difficult to find functional ones”.
WATCH: Behind bus accidents in Malaysia — should you take an express bus? (23:12)
There was no co-driver on her bus either, even though it is legally required for distances exceeding 300 kilometres. (The distance from Singapore to KL is about 350 kilometres.)
Another safety lapse she spotted — using a speed tracker — was that the driver’s speed reached “as high as 125 kilometres per hour”, when the speed limit for buses on the highway is 90 km/h.
His speed hovered between 100 and 110 km/h “most of the time”, and Ser reached KL in “just under four and a half hours”.
There, she spoke to several express bus drivers on why the bulk of the reported accidents happened at night. “Krish”, who has been driving for more than two decades and who requested anonymity, cited speeding.
“Krish” speaking to Ser.
“We can’t speed (in the daytime),” he said. “(At) night, we speed. … Traffic is (light).”
The fastest he said he has gone is 120 km/h, driving from Johor Bahru to KL in a time of two hours and 45 minutes. But he himself has never caused an accident, he claimed, as he is “a professional”.
“When I’m driving, my eyes, my nose, … my body, everything’s working,” he said. “Even when I speed, … customers say, ‘You’re a good driver. … Some buses (take) five hours; you (take) three hours.’”
Keeping to the speed limit for the entire trip would make him feel “sleepy” and is “impossible” to do, he added.
Another driver, Burhan Abdharu, said the reason accidents happen in the early hours is the drivers are tired and “haven’t had enough sleep”.
The longest he has driven is from KL to Singapore and back and then to Singapore again. That is 15 to 17 hours of driving, not including break time, he reckoned.
Burhan Abdharu was having a break in a car park near KL’s main bus terminal when Ser met him.
He does this “only during certain times, such as festive periods”, although he will do so without a co-driver, despite the regulations.
The bus operator pays him about RM210 (S$60) for a two-way trip between KL and Singapore, he shared. “If you get a co-driver, … (the pay) will be halved,” he said. “If we must split the pay, then it won’t be enough.”
He is among a group of contract workers in the industry who are paid solely per trip. Other drivers said it was common practice to be paid a basic monthly salary, with additional pay offered per trip.
There were also drivers who were paid monthly at a flat rate. But this appears to be the practice only in some bigger companies.
For many workers, whether they are on a contract or earn a basic pay, the more the drive, the more they earn. So some drivers speed to chase more trips and may get tired from multiple long drives.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Most of the bus operators are based in Malaysia. One of them, SuperNice Express, is headquartered in Penang, and Talking Point gained access to its global positioning system (GPS) room to find out what operators can do on their part.
SuperNice has more than 200 drivers and a fleet of about 100 buses, all tracked by its 24-hour operations team.
If a bus speeds at more than 100 km/h continuously for two minutes, an alarm will sound in the room, and the team will warn the driver to slow down, said Roy Chew, chairman of Unimax Group, which owns SuperNice.
Drivers are given a tolerance of 10 km/h for overtaking other vehicles, after which they must slow down to 90 km/h, he elaborated.
Unimax Group chairman Roy Chew showing Ser the GPS monitoring system.
GPS trackers that record location and speed are mandatory on express buses in Malaysia, and SuperNice installed its system about 10 years ago, he said.
Last year, because the size of its fleet was increasing, he invested around RM200,000 in a “proper GPS room”. He said: “We’ve decreased (our accident rate by) about 10 per cent because our team is monitoring (drivers) day and night.”
But he doubts that all the bus companies monitor their entire fleet 24/7.
Besides that, SuperNice has introduced buses with added safety features, such as a warning system that is triggered when drivers do not wear their seat belt.
There are sensors that detect vehicles at close range and activate the brakes when necessary to avoid a collision. There is also a live camera to monitor drivers — and not the usual closed-circuit television camera.
Ser pointing to SuperNice Express' latest camera technology.
“When the driver feels sleepy or rubs his eyes too frequently, (the camera) will (set off an) alarm,” said Chew. “Then our GPS team … will call the driver to (tell him to) take a break (for) 15 to 20 minutes.”
If the driver is ill-suited to continue at the wheel, “then we’ll change (to) the second driver”, Chew added.
The cameras — imported from Taiwan — were installed last year. Since 2022, SuperNice has spent about RM1 million on safety upgrades for its new buses, he disclosed.
Wan Md Hazlin Agyl Wan Hassan, who worked for Malaysia’s land public transport agency — which oversees the implementation of express bus policies — for close to seven years, does think operators are “struggling to make their business financially viable”.
Wan Md Hazlin Agyl Wan Hassan is now a transport consultant.
“There are so many players in the industry,” he cited as one of the reasons.
Even as they vie to fulfil demand during popular time slots, “there’ll be buses running (with a load factor of) below 30 per cent; in fact, maybe lower than 20 per cent”.
With operators “running at cost” because of these inefficiencies, or perhaps making a loss, investment in safety takes a back seat.
The express bus industry is also facing a manpower shortage, said Agyl, who is now managing partner of advisory company Agyl and Partners. He believes some operators are “forced to just hire inexperienced drivers” or even “bad apples”.
“If I’m driving for bus company A and then I (was) involved in an accident (and) got fired, for example, I (can) go to express company B,” he said. “Company B will … hire this driver because the shortage is real.”
As for new drivers, “most of the time (they) aren’t well trained” to deal with emergencies, he added.
To improve services, the government — which regulates fares on economy express buses — should “work with the terminal operators and bus operators to manage our supply and design proper services”, said Agyl.
“You need to make sure that the operators will be able to fill up their seats,” he said. “You need to diversify the services, allowing people to have more options, while … allowing the operators to make more money.”
More luxury means premium prices, though Agyl thinks operators can also fill seats through cheaper services with more stops.
There are executive-class buses. And some companies provide premium services that include on-board entertainment and meals. These can cost up to 60 per cent more, and Singaporeans tend to pay for them.
While he cannot guarantee that these buses are safer, Agyl said: “In the case of premium services, (operators can) definitely … make money, therefore there’s no reason for them to cut corners when (it comes) to safety compliance.”
There may be no way, however, to check the safety record of the bus companies. For all his industry knowledge, Agyl “couldn’t find it anywhere” — another change he would like to see.
So what can travellers do? When they buy their bus tickets on the booking platform, they could include insurance. Ser, for example, had the option of paying S$1.60 for up to S$25,000 worth of cover.
Passengers get S$2,000 worth of cover for accidental medical expenses, for example, and S$25,000 for accidental death or permanent disablement.
But some Singaporean passengers who had bought insurance have had trouble claiming compensation from bus operators after their buses were involved in accidents.
According to a report on an accident last June, a passenger who wanted to file a claim was told by the bus company to appoint a lawyer first.
In another case last year, passengers were told to make a claim on their personal travel insurance instead of the insurance bought with the bus ticket.
Liew Teck Huat, a lawyer in Niru and Co — a firm that has represented several Singaporeans involved in traffic accidents in Malaysia — said passengers typically approach the bus company to make a claim when they suffer a loss.
Liew Teck Huat is senior director of law firm Niru and Co.
The “proper way” to do it is to approach the insurers, make the claim directly under the policy and “not waste time” going to the bus companies, he advised.
“They’re not the insurer, so they have no obligation to pay the claim or to even process the claim.”
In his view, a lawyer is required only when there is an accident “involving serious injuries to the passenger”, not to mention death. Ticket insurance or a personal accident policy will not cover the “extensive medical expenses” in these cases.
The bus company will be covered on third-party liability insurance for claims made by passengers, for example, against the company for negligence on the part of the driver. Even passengers without insurance can file a claim.
“The insurance company covering the bus company and the driver would have to respond to this claim,” he said.
Watch this episode of Talking Point here. The programme airs on Channel 5 every Thursday at 9:30 p.m.
Continue reading...
The bus had collided with a motorcycle, which went under the front of the bus and burst into flames. When Ong opened his eyes, he saw “sparks at the front of the windscreen”.
“A lot of the passengers were still fast asleep,” he recounted. “I shouted out … ‘Get out of the bus!’”
The driver had to kick open the front door “because it’d malfunctioned, because of the collision or the fire”. Then the passengers “started walking out”, continued Ong, who was seated “somewhere in the middle”.
“There was no instruction for us to use the emergency exit door at the back,” he said. “I would’ve gone that way instead of towards a fire.”
Talking Point host Diana Ser with Vincent Ong.
Seated next to the emergency exit was an Indian family, who were the last to exit and were “badly burnt”, he recalled. A 17-year-old girl died in the incident in January, and two of her family members were seriously injured.
The bus had a crew of three — a driver, a co-driver and a conductor — but Ong felt that they were “unclear (about) the safety procedure in emergencies such as this, where there’s a fire”.
“A 17-year-old girl could’ve been saved,” he said. “She would’ve easily exited from (the rear) and be alive today.”
Buses like the one he took, which offer long-haul services between Singapore and cities in Malaysia, are commonly known as express buses.
Between 2022 and this March, there were at least 32 reports of express bus accidents. Nine of these cases involved passengers from Singapore.
Related stories:
The programme Talking Point finds out just how safe these rides are, what more can be done and what travellers should do if they meet with an accident in Malaysia.
SAFETY LAPSES, BUT DRIVERS UNFAZED
For popular routes such as Singapore to KL, checks on ticketing platforms such as BusOnlineTicket, Easybook and redBus found that about 20 per cent of the buses depart between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
But about two-thirds of the accidents reported between 2022 and this year happened during these hours.
As part of her investigation into the issue, Talking Point host Diana Ser took an overnight bus to KL. And the first thing she had to do was change seats thrice to find a seat belt that worked.
Wearing seat belts on express buses is compulsory, so she “didn’t expect it to be so difficult to find functional ones”.
WATCH: Behind bus accidents in Malaysia — should you take an express bus? (23:12)
There was no co-driver on her bus either, even though it is legally required for distances exceeding 300 kilometres. (The distance from Singapore to KL is about 350 kilometres.)
Another safety lapse she spotted — using a speed tracker — was that the driver’s speed reached “as high as 125 kilometres per hour”, when the speed limit for buses on the highway is 90 km/h.
His speed hovered between 100 and 110 km/h “most of the time”, and Ser reached KL in “just under four and a half hours”.
There, she spoke to several express bus drivers on why the bulk of the reported accidents happened at night. “Krish”, who has been driving for more than two decades and who requested anonymity, cited speeding.
“Krish” speaking to Ser.
“We can’t speed (in the daytime),” he said. “(At) night, we speed. … Traffic is (light).”
The fastest he said he has gone is 120 km/h, driving from Johor Bahru to KL in a time of two hours and 45 minutes. But he himself has never caused an accident, he claimed, as he is “a professional”.
“When I’m driving, my eyes, my nose, … my body, everything’s working,” he said. “Even when I speed, … customers say, ‘You’re a good driver. … Some buses (take) five hours; you (take) three hours.’”
Keeping to the speed limit for the entire trip would make him feel “sleepy” and is “impossible” to do, he added.
Another driver, Burhan Abdharu, said the reason accidents happen in the early hours is the drivers are tired and “haven’t had enough sleep”.
The longest he has driven is from KL to Singapore and back and then to Singapore again. That is 15 to 17 hours of driving, not including break time, he reckoned.
Burhan Abdharu was having a break in a car park near KL’s main bus terminal when Ser met him.
He does this “only during certain times, such as festive periods”, although he will do so without a co-driver, despite the regulations.
The bus operator pays him about RM210 (S$60) for a two-way trip between KL and Singapore, he shared. “If you get a co-driver, … (the pay) will be halved,” he said. “If we must split the pay, then it won’t be enough.”
He is among a group of contract workers in the industry who are paid solely per trip. Other drivers said it was common practice to be paid a basic monthly salary, with additional pay offered per trip.
There were also drivers who were paid monthly at a flat rate. But this appears to be the practice only in some bigger companies.
For many workers, whether they are on a contract or earn a basic pay, the more the drive, the more they earn. So some drivers speed to chase more trips and may get tired from multiple long drives.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
INSIDE A 24-HOUR GPS ROOM
Most of the bus operators are based in Malaysia. One of them, SuperNice Express, is headquartered in Penang, and Talking Point gained access to its global positioning system (GPS) room to find out what operators can do on their part.
SuperNice has more than 200 drivers and a fleet of about 100 buses, all tracked by its 24-hour operations team.
If a bus speeds at more than 100 km/h continuously for two minutes, an alarm will sound in the room, and the team will warn the driver to slow down, said Roy Chew, chairman of Unimax Group, which owns SuperNice.
Drivers are given a tolerance of 10 km/h for overtaking other vehicles, after which they must slow down to 90 km/h, he elaborated.
Unimax Group chairman Roy Chew showing Ser the GPS monitoring system.
GPS trackers that record location and speed are mandatory on express buses in Malaysia, and SuperNice installed its system about 10 years ago, he said.
Last year, because the size of its fleet was increasing, he invested around RM200,000 in a “proper GPS room”. He said: “We’ve decreased (our accident rate by) about 10 per cent because our team is monitoring (drivers) day and night.”
But he doubts that all the bus companies monitor their entire fleet 24/7.
Besides that, SuperNice has introduced buses with added safety features, such as a warning system that is triggered when drivers do not wear their seat belt.
There are sensors that detect vehicles at close range and activate the brakes when necessary to avoid a collision. There is also a live camera to monitor drivers — and not the usual closed-circuit television camera.
Ser pointing to SuperNice Express' latest camera technology.
“When the driver feels sleepy or rubs his eyes too frequently, (the camera) will (set off an) alarm,” said Chew. “Then our GPS team … will call the driver to (tell him to) take a break (for) 15 to 20 minutes.”
If the driver is ill-suited to continue at the wheel, “then we’ll change (to) the second driver”, Chew added.
The cameras — imported from Taiwan — were installed last year. Since 2022, SuperNice has spent about RM1 million on safety upgrades for its new buses, he disclosed.
OPERATIONAL INEFFICIENCIES
Wan Md Hazlin Agyl Wan Hassan, who worked for Malaysia’s land public transport agency — which oversees the implementation of express bus policies — for close to seven years, does think operators are “struggling to make their business financially viable”.
Wan Md Hazlin Agyl Wan Hassan is now a transport consultant.
“There are so many players in the industry,” he cited as one of the reasons.
Even as they vie to fulfil demand during popular time slots, “there’ll be buses running (with a load factor of) below 30 per cent; in fact, maybe lower than 20 per cent”.
With operators “running at cost” because of these inefficiencies, or perhaps making a loss, investment in safety takes a back seat.
The express bus industry is also facing a manpower shortage, said Agyl, who is now managing partner of advisory company Agyl and Partners. He believes some operators are “forced to just hire inexperienced drivers” or even “bad apples”.
Related stories
“If I’m driving for bus company A and then I (was) involved in an accident (and) got fired, for example, I (can) go to express company B,” he said. “Company B will … hire this driver because the shortage is real.”
As for new drivers, “most of the time (they) aren’t well trained” to deal with emergencies, he added.
To improve services, the government — which regulates fares on economy express buses — should “work with the terminal operators and bus operators to manage our supply and design proper services”, said Agyl.
“You need to make sure that the operators will be able to fill up their seats,” he said. “You need to diversify the services, allowing people to have more options, while … allowing the operators to make more money.”
More luxury means premium prices, though Agyl thinks operators can also fill seats through cheaper services with more stops.
There are executive-class buses. And some companies provide premium services that include on-board entertainment and meals. These can cost up to 60 per cent more, and Singaporeans tend to pay for them.
While he cannot guarantee that these buses are safer, Agyl said: “In the case of premium services, (operators can) definitely … make money, therefore there’s no reason for them to cut corners when (it comes) to safety compliance.”
A LAWYER’S ADVICE
There may be no way, however, to check the safety record of the bus companies. For all his industry knowledge, Agyl “couldn’t find it anywhere” — another change he would like to see.
So what can travellers do? When they buy their bus tickets on the booking platform, they could include insurance. Ser, for example, had the option of paying S$1.60 for up to S$25,000 worth of cover.
Passengers get S$2,000 worth of cover for accidental medical expenses, for example, and S$25,000 for accidental death or permanent disablement.
But some Singaporean passengers who had bought insurance have had trouble claiming compensation from bus operators after their buses were involved in accidents.
According to a report on an accident last June, a passenger who wanted to file a claim was told by the bus company to appoint a lawyer first.
In another case last year, passengers were told to make a claim on their personal travel insurance instead of the insurance bought with the bus ticket.
Liew Teck Huat, a lawyer in Niru and Co — a firm that has represented several Singaporeans involved in traffic accidents in Malaysia — said passengers typically approach the bus company to make a claim when they suffer a loss.
Liew Teck Huat is senior director of law firm Niru and Co.
The “proper way” to do it is to approach the insurers, make the claim directly under the policy and “not waste time” going to the bus companies, he advised.
“They’re not the insurer, so they have no obligation to pay the claim or to even process the claim.”
In his view, a lawyer is required only when there is an accident “involving serious injuries to the passenger”, not to mention death. Ticket insurance or a personal accident policy will not cover the “extensive medical expenses” in these cases.
The bus company will be covered on third-party liability insurance for claims made by passengers, for example, against the company for negligence on the part of the driver. Even passengers without insurance can file a claim.
“The insurance company covering the bus company and the driver would have to respond to this claim,” he said.
Watch this episode of Talking Point here. The programme airs on Channel 5 every Thursday at 9:30 p.m.
Continue reading...