B.C.’s provincial government is cracking down on the party bus industry with new regulations.
The new rules come in the wake of several high-profile deaths involving the vehicles in recent years.
“It’s been a long, long painful wait,” said Julie Raymond, whose 16-year-old daughter Shannon died after consuming alcohol and ecstasy while on a party bus in 2008.
Raymond has spent the last decade advocating for stiffer safety measures aboard the vehicles.
Not all of the changes will have to wait until next year.
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure announced on Friday that it is immediately quadrupling the penalties for party buses and other commercial vehicles that don’t meet safety inspection standards.
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Fines for vehicles that fail to display valid decals to prove they have passed inspections are climbing, from $81 to $318.
“For a long time, the party bus industry has been ignored, leaving glaring gaps in safety,” said Transportation Minister Claire Trevena in a statement.
“Our government is adopting a suite of new measures so all passengers — and in particular minors — are safe when they take a ride in a party bus.”
The ministry says it is also working with the transportation industry and Passenger Transportation Board to implement new safety measures by early 2019.
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Those new measures include rules meant to protect minors, such as the requirement for signed consent forms from guardians and the presence of a chaperone on the bus if youth are present.
The province also plans to require operators to submit passenger safety plans, install cameras and require operators to install emergency alert systems.
The consumption of alcohol aboard party buses is already illegal, and will remain so.
READ MORE: New limousine, party bus regulations to make operators ‘more accountable’: ministry
The party bus industry has faced increasing scrutiny in recent years after a series of incidents.
Last November, a party bus caught on fire in downtown Vancouver. In Jan. 2016, 23-year-old Chelsea Lynn Mist James died after falling from a party bus in Vancouver, an accident an investigation determined was caused by a mechanical failure.
And in Feb. 2013, 16-year-old Ernest Azoadam collapsed and died on a party bus in Surrey. The BC Coroners Service ruled out drugs or alcohol in his death.
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