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Chinatown Bus Operator Fung Wah
USINFO | 2013-05-27 13:26
For the dozens of people milling about on a sidewalk of Canal Street in Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon, reports that a popular Chinatown bus line was being shut down were drowned out by the siren song of a $15 fare to Boston.
Even after the federal government ordered the bus line, Fung Wah Bus Transportation, to stop running its fleet, about 40 people lined up outside the company’s ticket office for a four-hour ride to Boston. Some had heard of the company’s latest problems, and some had not — but none were deterred.
“If it’s your time, it’s your time,” said Rosemary Donkor, who was headed home to Boston. “I believe that God looks after us all.”
This week, government officials in Boston and Washington ordered Fung Wah’s buses off the road. Initially, the company agreed to sideline 21 of its 28 buses Feb. 23, after Massachusetts officials said they had failed inspection. Then, on Tuesday afternoon, the federal Transportation Department extended the order to all of Fung Wah’s buses.
But even that did not shut down the company completely. Fung Wah, based in Boston, brought in other buses from a charter company in Brooklyn to carry its customers between Manhattan and South Station in Boston. On Tuesday afternoon, the company was still selling tickets on its Web site, and a woman answering the company’s phone said the buses would run every hour.
The federal order was not the first setback for Fung Wah, the best known of the Chinatown bus lines. The company agreed to spot inspections of its fleet in 2006, after one of its buses rolled over on a highway exit ramp in Massachusetts. In early January, a Fung Wah bus struck and injured two pedestrians near the Manhattan Bridge.
Until now, though, Fung Wah has attracted less attention from regulators than many of the other discount bus lines that pick up passengers curbside in Chinatown and other New York City neighborhoods.
On Tuesday, the buses the company was using were not emblazoned with the Fung Wah name; their sides were either white or bore the name of the Brooklyn charter company, Omega Express. A man who identified himself as the president of Omega declined repeatedly to discuss his company’s involvement.
The federal order came after the Public Utilities Department in Massachusetts said it found that several Fung Wah buses had structural deficiencies, including frame cracks near their axles and engine cradles. They said they had also detected shoddy attempts at repairs, like incomplete or failed welds.
The department’s chairwoman, Ann G. Berwick, wrote a letter dated Feb. 22 to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requesting that officials declare Fung Wah an “imminent hazard” and order it to cease operations.
Even those customers who were aware of the regulatory action said that the $15 fare would outweigh any potential safety concerns.
“My mother had sent me a text this morning to be careful,” said Grace Mateo, 30, an artist who was waiting at Boston South Station’s Gate 25 for a bus back to New York after a weekend visit. “We were, like, O.K., we’ve got to get home; we already paid for this.”
Ms. Mateo said she planned to keep taking the Fung Wah as long as the company continued to operate as the least costly option. “It would definitely be a hit to the wallet to have to take anything else,” Ms. Mateo said. “A lot of them are really expensive.”
A standard one-way bus fare from New York to Boston on an established bus line would typically cost $35.
Back in New York, when a substitute bus pulled up around the corner on Bowery to take on Fung Wah passengers, the Police Department made the company’s day a little worse. An officer parked his bike in front of the bus and filled out a ticket for parking in a no-standing zone.
After he jammed the orange summons under the windshield wiper, he explained that the fine would be $115. Or about one-fifth of the fares Fung Wah had just collected.
Even after the federal government ordered the bus line, Fung Wah Bus Transportation, to stop running its fleet, about 40 people lined up outside the company’s ticket office for a four-hour ride to Boston. Some had heard of the company’s latest problems, and some had not — but none were deterred.
“If it’s your time, it’s your time,” said Rosemary Donkor, who was headed home to Boston. “I believe that God looks after us all.”
This week, government officials in Boston and Washington ordered Fung Wah’s buses off the road. Initially, the company agreed to sideline 21 of its 28 buses Feb. 23, after Massachusetts officials said they had failed inspection. Then, on Tuesday afternoon, the federal Transportation Department extended the order to all of Fung Wah’s buses.
But even that did not shut down the company completely. Fung Wah, based in Boston, brought in other buses from a charter company in Brooklyn to carry its customers between Manhattan and South Station in Boston. On Tuesday afternoon, the company was still selling tickets on its Web site, and a woman answering the company’s phone said the buses would run every hour.
The federal order was not the first setback for Fung Wah, the best known of the Chinatown bus lines. The company agreed to spot inspections of its fleet in 2006, after one of its buses rolled over on a highway exit ramp in Massachusetts. In early January, a Fung Wah bus struck and injured two pedestrians near the Manhattan Bridge.
Until now, though, Fung Wah has attracted less attention from regulators than many of the other discount bus lines that pick up passengers curbside in Chinatown and other New York City neighborhoods.
On Tuesday, the buses the company was using were not emblazoned with the Fung Wah name; their sides were either white or bore the name of the Brooklyn charter company, Omega Express. A man who identified himself as the president of Omega declined repeatedly to discuss his company’s involvement.
The federal order came after the Public Utilities Department in Massachusetts said it found that several Fung Wah buses had structural deficiencies, including frame cracks near their axles and engine cradles. They said they had also detected shoddy attempts at repairs, like incomplete or failed welds.
The department’s chairwoman, Ann G. Berwick, wrote a letter dated Feb. 22 to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requesting that officials declare Fung Wah an “imminent hazard” and order it to cease operations.
Even those customers who were aware of the regulatory action said that the $15 fare would outweigh any potential safety concerns.
“My mother had sent me a text this morning to be careful,” said Grace Mateo, 30, an artist who was waiting at Boston South Station’s Gate 25 for a bus back to New York after a weekend visit. “We were, like, O.K., we’ve got to get home; we already paid for this.”
Ms. Mateo said she planned to keep taking the Fung Wah as long as the company continued to operate as the least costly option. “It would definitely be a hit to the wallet to have to take anything else,” Ms. Mateo said. “A lot of them are really expensive.”
A standard one-way bus fare from New York to Boston on an established bus line would typically cost $35.
Back in New York, when a substitute bus pulled up around the corner on Bowery to take on Fung Wah passengers, the Police Department made the company’s day a little worse. An officer parked his bike in front of the bus and filled out a ticket for parking in a no-standing zone.
After he jammed the orange summons under the windshield wiper, he explained that the fine would be $115. Or about one-fifth of the fares Fung Wah had just collected.
