BEIJING - China's Ministry of Public Security has sent special work teams to local transportation stations across the country in a two-month traffic safety overhaul following a fatal bus fire.

According to a statement released Tuesday by the ministry, most of these supervisors have been riding local buses as ordinary passengers and interviewing workers anonymously in an effort to ascertain the real situation of local transportation.

"Based on the supervision results so far, local traffic safety still has various prominent problems, such as nonstandard safety checks before departure, taking on extra passengers outside stops, and slack supervision on interprovincial lines," said the statement.

While ordering local police departments to set up hotlines for public traffic safety reports, the ministry ordered senior officers at various levels to set an example by taking bus services to search for potential safety issues.

According to previous reports, the campaign focuses on hazardous materials, speeding, reckless driving, overloaded cargo, fatigued driving and other conduct that endangers transportation on expressways.

An overloaded 35-seat bus caught fire on July 22 on the Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway, killing 41 people and injuring 6 others onboard.