KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - More than half of registered school and express buses were not sent for scheduled checks by national vehicle inspection company Puspakom last year.
 
Puspakom chief executive officer Hisham Othman said of the 4,111 public buses that failed to turn up for inspection last year, 1,284 were school buses, 596 tour buses, 579 express, and 725 stage buses.

"From our records, 2,380 school buses, 1,106 tour buses, 1,193 express and 6,271 stage buses must be brought for inspection at our centres nationwide. However, only 9,131 buses were inspected, including 571 buses for workers and 794 buses of other categories," he said.

He said the high percentage was worrying as it indicated that the buses were being used without permits. They may also not be roadworthy and be a danger to the public.

"I urge bus operators to follow the law and bring their buses in for inspection."

Road Transport Department director-general Datuk Solah Mat Hassan said 31 per cent of 13,242 public buses that were required to go for bi-annual inspections by Puspakom from January to the end of last year did not do so.

Concerned over the large number, he said the department was considering cancelling the buses' registrations.

"There are two probabilities why they were not sent for inspection. First, they might have stopped operating without informing us, and second, they are operating without Puspakom's permit.

"We are going through all the data, and if the operators had failed to send in their vehicles for inspection for more than a year, we will issue them a show-cause letter and cancel their vehicles' registration."

He said this after an operation to check on express and tour buses at the RTD enforcement station in Gombak here yesterday.

Solah said RTD would boost its enforcement this year by conducting continuous operations, with focus on express and tour buses.

"RTD officers nationwide had started checks on tour and express buses since early this month, and we will take action against culprits."

To improve law enforcement on express buses, he said the RTD also had ordered all express bus drivers to distribute complaint forms to passengers upon boarding the bus starting on Friday.

"The passengers must fill up the forms, which will be collected by an RTD officer when they reach their destination."

-- New Straits Times