A legislative committee on transportation met Thursday to discuss safety regulations for tour buses. That’s after a fire on a tour bus claimed the lives of 26 people on Tuesday.
The investigation into the tragedy that killed 24 tourists from Liaoning Province in China as well as a local bus driver and tour guide is still ongoing. Investigators have made initial suggestions that the fire may have been caused by an electrical short circuit. Meanwhile questions have been asked about why the passengers were unable to open the emergency door or break the windows.
Lawmaker Lee Kun-tse said more needs to be done to ensure tour buses in Taiwan are as safe as possible. Lee said that there have been 11 major traffic accidents since Taiwan opened its borders to mainland Chinese tourists in 2008. Of these, nine have involved tour buses.
Transportation Minister Ho Chen Tan laid out the immediate measures to ensure the safety of the more than 77,000 tour buses on Taiwan’s roads.
Ho Chen said, "We have a mobile team that right now is boarding buses to check them. Right now the universal concern is about emergency doors not working and we hope we can see some immediate improvement. Within a week we will reveal our list of the best [and worst] tour bus manufacturers. For those with records of violations, if they are not able to follow our instructions they will face fines, this is something that will happen in the next month. On the matter of [tour buses’] electrical capacity and other equipment, we are looking at where inadequate attention has been paid. Within three months, we will be able to revise the regulations for safety checks."