Wheel scare halts Fung Wah bus trip

A set of rear wheels loosened on a Boston-bound Fung Wah bus yesterday, barely hanging on the coach after it had traveled nearly 200 miles at highway speeds on an early-morning trip from New York.

None of the 30 passengers on board was injured, but State Police cited the company for failure to properly maintain equipment. It was the latest mishap for the discount bus line, which has been under state and federal scrutiny since a string of maintenance and operation problems starting in August 2005.

State Police Sergeant Robert Dousquet said the driver of the bus, Xing Lee of New York, told investigators he pulled into the Framingham service plaza of the Massachusetts Turnpike at 7:40 a.m. after feeling "a strange sensation" while driving the vehicle. Police credited him for noticing something amiss and pulling over before the wheels completely separated from the rear axle, possibly causing a crash. He was not cited.

State Police arrived to find the two right rear wheels dangling from the bus axle. Investigators said the bolts appeared to have sheared off, an indication that the lug nuts may not have been properly tightened.

Fung Wah operates 20 full-size motor coaches that can each carry 42 passengers. They have 10 wheels -- two in the front, and four sets of two in the rear. Six of the rear wheels on the bus yesterday were still in place.

The bus passed its most recent state inspection, on Nov. 29. Officials with the state Department of Telecommunications and Energy, which regulates commercial bus lines and oversees the inspections, said they are asking Fung Wah officials for detailed repair reports on the 2001 Van Hool bus since that inspection.

"Our investigation is ongoing" said Timothy J. Shevlin Jr. , the agency's executive director.

Fung Wah will also now be required to attach colored, plastic ties on each lug nut so it's easier to see if they have loosened, Shevlin said. MBTA buses already have the indicator ties.

The Fung Wah bus was about 20 miles from South Station in Boston when the incident occurred. As it was towed away, another coach picked up the passengers.

The bus line offers $15 one-way trips between Boston and New York, a route popular with college students and bargain hunters that started eight years ago.

In the most serious prior incident, a coach rolled over while rounding an Interstate 290 ramp in Auburn in September , slightly injuring 34 passengers headed to Boston. State Police blamed excessive speed.

In October, Fung Wah was fined $31,100 for violating federal safety regulations. The Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration said Fung Wah improperly hired drivers who couldn't speak English and who regularly exceeded speed limits.

In May 2006, the agency also fined the bus company $12,950 for speeding and failure to maintain proper driver records.

In another incident, a coach caught fire in August 2005 on Interstate 91 in Connecticut on the way to New York. The company was not cited because federal officials concluded the fire was caused by faulty wiring, not by any violation.

The company's federal ratings on driver safety, vehicle safety, and safety management have worsened substantially since that fire. Still, federal officials say the company currently holds a "satisfactory" rating because its overall operations, including vehicle inspections and a willingness to fix problems quickly, are in compliance.

After the September rollover in Auburn, the company hired a consultant to develop a comprehensive safety plan. Joseph Mokrisky , the Stoughton-based consultant, said the bus line has improved training of drivers and made other improvements.

Mokrisky said he supervised the retraining of 26 Fung Wah drivers, each for about five hours, in November and December. Drivers are also attending an English language immersion program in New York City after federal officials cited the company for hiring drivers who could not "interact sufficiently" in English with customers.

"They really stepped up to the plate," Mokrisky said. The company, he said, used the September rollover "to drive home the message that the drivers need to know what they are doing."

He downplayed the significance of yesterday's incident. "Unfortunately in the industry this does happen," he said. ". . .There are companies out there that have bigger issues with their equipment than Fung Wah."

A bus wheel specialist also said such incidents are common. Gary A. Derian , a forensic engineer in Columbus, Ohio, for Robson Forensics Inc., said tandem bus tires are each connected by at least 10 lug nuts, each tightened to 400 foot-pounds. The typical car lug is tightened at between 60 and 80 foot-pounds.

For such high tension, only an air-pressure gun -- where the torque is preset -- can be used, he said. "More than likely there's something wrong with the impact wrench or its air supply had insufficient pressure," he said.

A slightly loose lug nut will grow looser as a wheel experiences greater pressures during turns. The fluctuation between pressures can cause the metal on a loose lug to fatigue and shear off over time, he said.

Mac Daniel can be reached at mdaniel@globe.com