Supermarket shuttles face spot tests

By Jessie Dong  |   2008-6-28  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

MANY supermarket shuttle buses emit alarming levels of black fumes, and the environmental watchdog has vowed to get them off the roads.

Shanghai's free supermarket buses are poorly serviced and have become a major contributor to air pollution, said Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau.

The bureau checked 391 buses run by 40 supermarkets, and found 147 breaking emissions standards - 37.6 percent of the total.

Officials will now team up with traffic police to test emissions on hundreds of buses run by supermarkets such as Rt-Mart, Tesco, Carrefour and Lotus.

Local transport authorities have long urged supermarket operators to improve their buses to reduce fumes and avoid accidents. Traffic police can now ban buses that break pollution laws, and require owners to carry out repairs and submit buses to emissions tests.

Some supermarkets have rented old buses to save money on the free shuttle services, said Song Bo, manager of a bus company. "For the sake of cost-cutting, supermarkets are only willing to pay cheap prices to rent mediocre buses," he said.