The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday denied that the heads of the Tourism Bureau and the Directorate-General of Highways (DGH) were asked to resign to take responsibility for a tour bus accident that killed 33 people last week, adding that the ministry would make a decision after an investigation into the accident has been finalized.
Ministry of Transportation and Communications Deputy Minister Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) on Sunday said Tourism Bureau Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) and DGH Director-General Chen Yen-po (陳彥伯) tendered written resignations.
“However, we will assess their resignations after the investigations into the cause of the freeway accident. At this time we ask them to continue to lead their respective agencies,” Wang said.
Wang dismissed criticism that the ministry had been negligent in overseeing tour bus operators, adding that the ministry has been reviewing how tour bus companies should be managed following several accidents.
Following an accident in Meiling (梅嶺) Scenic Area in Tainan in 2006 which killed 22 tourists, Wang said that the ministry listed road sections on which tour buses are banned.
Following a bus accident on Freeway No. 2 in July last year, which killed 26 people, the ministry also listed 22 items to improve its management of tour bus operators, he added.
Among those, 15 have been addressed, including roadside inspections, prevention of accidents related to driving while intoxicated, disclosing the names of well-performing tour bus operators and shutting down bus companies that continue to perform poorly, Wang said.
The accident on Monday last week is possibly related to tour bus drivers working long hours, he said.
“Bus tours are a complicated business. Issues such as reasonable working hours for drivers and demanding the departure of poorly performing operators from the market need discussion. We hope that these two issues would be resolved by July,” he said.
Tour bus operators are also expected to be required to install Global Positioning Systems in buses which would be linked to the DGH’s real-time tour bus management platform, which is to launch on Sept. 1.
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