SUMMONSES FOR OVERLOADING

Mr Tee Kim Leng asked the Minister for Home Affairs how many summonses for overloading with passengers were issued to taxi drivers and to Singapore Traction Company bus conductors respectively between 1st January and 31st August, 1961.

Mr Ong Pang Boon: Mr Speaker, Sir, 428 summonses for overloading pas sengers were issued to taxi drivers between the period 1st January and 31st August, 1961. No summonses were issued to Singapore Traction Company bus conductors during the same period, or, for that matter, conductors of Chinese bus companies.

Action was taken against taxi drivers because, in their case, they tout for extra passengers, whereas buses do not. Circumstances regarding buses are quite different. However, Government is considering the regulations governing the overloading of passenger buses.

Discussions were held with the various Chinese bus companies and the S.T.C. as well as the drivers and conductors some time back with a view to seeking their co-operation and safety-first measures. At the talks given to the conductors and drivers, one of their complaints was that they were unable to prevent the overloading of passengers single-handed, and that more often than not they were sandwiched inside the bus and unable to get to the door to control would-be bus passengers surging in and hanging on to the rails of the door. The conductors also complained of being threatened by hooligans whenever they tried to prevent or turn them away. The only solution to this would be for the buses to have hydraulic controlled doors which are operated by the drivers. This would not only prevent overcrowding but fatal accidents of people who either try to board or alight from a moving bus.

Mr Tee Kim Leng: (In Mandarin): Why is it that taxi drivers cannot enjoy the same privilege as that accorded to bus conductors of not being prosecuted for overloading?

Mr Ong Pang Boon: Mr Speaker, Sir, evidently the last speaker did not understand my answer. I have already given my answer to his question. I have explained the circumstances of the taxis and the buses. In the case of the taxis, the driver touts for passengers. He is in full control not to overload his taxi. But in the case of bus conductors, they are, according to them, not in a position to control.

Dr Lee Siew Choh (Queenstown): The Minister for Home Affairs said that the bus conductors could not control passengers because they were threatened by hooligans. Would that not similarly apply to the taxi drivers?

Mr Ong Pang Boon: I have not yet heard from any of the taxi drivers that that was the reason why they carried extra passengers.

Mr A. P. Rajah (Farrer Park): Would the Minister for Home Affairs inform this House that should the taxi drivers so inform him, he would reconsider the position?

Mr Ong Pang Boon: Yes.