Tourist bus companies that operate with blank charter licenses are at risk of being charged heavy fines and shut down, senior transport officials have warned.
Zhao Ruihua, deputy director of road traffic safety for the State Administration of Work Safety, said the Ministry of Transport issues charter licenses only after subjecting a company's qualifications to scrutiny, looking, for instance, at its safety records and the drivers it employs.
Some companies, though, run their businesses using blank or forged licenses, which impedes efforts to make the roads safer, he said.
Zhan Yulin, division chief of passenger traffic at the ministry, said tour bus companies that use a fake charter license, or try to use a legitimate one in a region other than where it was intended for, can lose their business licenses and be subject to fines that cost double to 10 times the value of any illegal gains they have made. And those whose transgressions constitute crimes will be prosecuted, Zhan said.
He said some blank charter licenses are the result of carelessness on the part of transport administrations.
Companies can also fill in the documents' blanks with information about whatever route they want and without first undergoing a safety examination. He said that can lead to further dangers.
An irregular or a faulty use of charter licenses has been found to be a cause in many road accidents involving tourist buses, Zhao said. In some cases, drivers have been found to be unfamiliar with the routes they were taking.
