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Feds shut Fung Wah

Boston Metro reports the action comes a day after Massachusetts ordered most of the line's buses off the road.

The best Fung Wah crashes and fires.

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Comments

MEGASUCK had a much worse safety record (on top of customer service that Soviets would have complained about).

Are they next? Or are they sacred?

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I did notice that most of the Fung Wah incidents is from 5 years ago and earlier. A check on Wikipedia reveals that this observation is not because I haven't been checking the news, it even noted that a government report in 2011 that there was not accident in 2 years.

Meanwhile Megabus actually had very recent and fatal crashes.

I thought about voicing that thought in the previous post but I decided too much time has passed. I personally enjoyed taking Fung Wah, the ride was fast and I got to NYC and back multiple times with no issue. Unlike the commentators in the last post, whom some I wonder are judging by the news and the people who runs it while never personally even been near the bus.

I do have to admit, something like "structural issues" sounds ridiculously dangerous. Something I cannot brush of as a mix of lingering reputations created by mistakes of a new company whose start have no intention to become half that it became and streotypes while dealing with a government likely under pressure by established players.

At least Lucky Star is still alive.

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Maybe I'm just cynical, but Megabus is union. Fung Wah... not so much.

Perhaps that's why one company gets the smack down and another is ignored.

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I don't believe Megabus is unionized.

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Thanks.

Does that include Megabus drivers in the Northeast (who work for a variety of Coach USA-owned companies)? Or just the Chicago hub?

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The feds have restricted how many people Megabus can put on each of their double-deckers because of weight issues that caused tire failures and accidents.

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Is this like the feds throwing Fung Wah under the bus?

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As a matter of course, I try to avoid products/services offered by companies when I cannot figure out how they could possibly be making money selling their products or services at the offered price (particularly when the product/service is offered in an unregulated or poorly regulated industry).

This is a reasonably good example of why.

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One only has to show up at their stop in NYC on a Sunday evening to figure out how they make money. They fill up every single bus with people and send out another full bus every 5-10 minutes.

This was actually the reason I always took Fung Wah, if I got bored, I knew I could show up at the station at 3 and go home. If I was out for dinner with friends, I didn't have to worry about getting back to the station at a certain time, I could always just show up at 9 pm and take one of the late buses. Greyhound/Peter Pan/Bolt/Megabus want you to show up with a ticket for a specific time, which is just inconvenient for a major route at a busy time.

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When your business model is based on acquiring busses that are well past their prime, then driving the crap out of them, something has to give.
Do you feel lucky? ;-)

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The latest news:

The Federal shutdown order only affected Fung Wah's buses. It didn't prevent them from chartering buses from other companies, so that's what they did to keep running. (The Feds did this intentionally. In past shutdown orders for other companies, they have explicitly included third-party charters.)

But then the T banned Fung Wah from using the bus terminal. http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverag...

I'm not sure why the T thinks they can do this. Fung Wah was operating 100% legally (and I'm sure the inspectors were giving the charter buses plenty of scrutiny).

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Fung Wah was still running trips with their own buses in there after FMCSA told them to halt service. That violates the South Station dock lease agreements with the MBTA.

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Where did you hear that? It wasn't in any news articles, and everything I heard said they were only using charters.

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Gee, maybe if you read the actual article, you would know why the T "thinks" they can do this:

The MBTA said the company’s violation of federal regulations constituted a default on its license agreement with the T,

“This letter will serve as a notice of default for failure of your company to comply with the applicable Regulatory Standards as required by your License Agreement,” it read. “The MBTA expressly reserves all rights and remedies, including the right to terminate the License Agreement if the above defaults are not promptly cured.”

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They complied with the standards by taking the affected buses off the road, and substituting buses that passed inspection. That sounds like promptly curing the defaults.

Virtually every company that uses South Station has failed inspections in the past, and most have been known to use charters, including Greyhound and Megabus.

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