Inspectors declare buses safe

State and federal inspectors pulled a single intercity bus off the road yesterday but otherwise found no major violations during a series of unannounced inspections at South Station.

The stepped-up enforcement followed last week's fire on board a Fung Wah discount bus en route from Boston to New York.

The inspections targeted all 10 intercity bus companies operating out of South Station. A Vermont Transit Lines bus with an air leak in a brake line was pulled from service. All other infractions involved ''mostly minor defects," state officials said.

State inspection teams examined a total of 28 buses and their drivers, finding 15 minor driver violations and 43 minor mechanical defects. All must now be fixed within 15 days under state guidelines.

''We're here to assure the riding public that these buses are safe," said Timothy J. Shevlin Jr., executive director of the state Department of Telecommunications and Energy, which regulates bus safety in Massachusetts.

Last week, after the second of two fires this year on discount bus lines running between New York and Boston, state officials said ''terminal bus inspections" would increase from once a month to three times a month.

Mona Luis, a spokeswoman for Fung Wah Bus, said that yesterday's inspections prove that the bus line is safe. ''We want to do our best," she said. ''We want [federal and state inspectors] to hold us accountable and back us up."

The Aug. 16 fire on Interstate 91 in Meriden, Conn., aboard a Fung Wah bus remains under investigation by the bus company's insurance agent. The blaze is believed to have started in the engine compartment. No one was hurt.

In March, a Travel Pack bus caught fire on the Massachusetts Turnpike. Kristine Travel and Tour, which owns Travel Pack, also owned a bus that crashed in Canada four years ago, killing four students from Newton.

According to Shevlin, the two recent fires are considered isolated incidents and do not indicate shoddy maintenance or safety concerns. ''Taking these bargain bus lines doesn't put passengers in any danger," he said.

Fung Wah and Lucky Star Bus offer hourly $15 one-way trips between Boston and New York and have changed the economics of bus travel in New England, prompting larger carriers such as Springfield-based Peter Pan Bus Lines and Greyhound to challenge the upstarts' safety and legitimacy.

The heightened inspections and other enforcement upgrades are not meant to target the discount lines, Shevlin said.

Mac Daniel can be reached at mdaniel@globe.com.