Overcrowding bane of buses
Much has been talked and written about safety of public transport after a bus fire killed 27 passengers in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. But the most immediate step we need to take is to stop buses from carrying more than the stipulated number of passengers so that suspicious items and people can be easily detected, says an article in Yangtze Evening News. Excerpts:
The recent bus fire in Chengdu has sparked heated debates on safety of public transport system. Topics range from emergency hammers to airtight bus windows. Many have termed the Shenyang municipal government's decision to ban air-conditioned buses to avoid similar accidents as "lazy governance".
But one thing is for sure: Safety measures, irrespective of how perfect they are, cannot work on a bus that is as overcrowded as the one in Chengdu was. Just as a basketball commentator says, even if you can normally jump up to 2 m, you cannot do so when pressed against a wall. The bus had more than 100 passengers - 33 percent more than its capacity. In such a case, even if an emergency hammer can be reached, passengers would not be able to use it to break a window or a door pane.
The author of this article has worked in Chengdu for one year, and knows the condition of public transport there. During peak hours, most buses are so overcrowded that passengers have to jostle for space just to stand properly. Sometimes the tires even go bust as a result of the excess weight they carry. It's not difficult to visualize pitiable condition of passengers on the bus on route No 9 that fateful Friday morning. They wouldn't have had enough room to even move, let alone break a window even if had a hammer.
Such overcrowded buses are ideal targets for attacks because it is difficult for passengers to detect suspicious objects or people. After the fire gutted the bus, a witness said he saw a bottle of liquid on the bus.
If we are serious about making public transport safe, we should prohibit overcrowding of buses.
(China Daily 06/10/2009 page8)
