BOSTON - The attorney general of Massachusetts reportedly has expanded his investigation of a Chinese-American bus company that operates between Boston and New York City.

The broadened investigation was launched after a series of articles appeared in the Boston Herald, reporting that Fung Wah bus company was routinely violating disability laws by denying service to passengers who use wheelchairs or who are blind.

A separate investigation by the newspaper also found that Fung Wah drivers were repeatedly driving 80 miles per hour on the Massachusetts Turnpike, weaving in and out of traffic, and speeding through construction zones like they weren't there.

Separately, Peter Pan Bus Lines of Springfield, Mass., which competes with Fung Wah and other Chinese/American-owned bus companies operating along the East Coast, reportedly has filed a new complaint with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration alleging that another Chinese operator, Apex Bus, also is violating disability laws.

In one of its articles, the Herald reported that a reporter had watched as Fung Wah employees denied a ride to the head of Boston's Disability Law Center, Christine Griffin, who uses a wheelchair.

Later, a Herald reporter called the Fung Wah ticket office and was told that service for the disabled was not provided.

Earlier this year, a complaint was filed with the state attorney general by a blind couple who said they and their seeing-eye dog were refused a ride on a Fung Wah bus.

The day after the Herald ran its latest story, Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly said he intended to step up his investigation of Fung Wah.

"Apparently this company just doesn't get it that it's illegal to discriminate against an individual based on a disability," Reilly said in a statement.

The Herald quoted a lawyer for Fung Wah who said that none of the apparent violations were intentional and the company was awaiting instructions from Reilly on how to improve access for disabled riders.

Meanwhile, the FMCSA's oversight of Fung Wah and other Chinatown operators was again called into question. A lawyer for the federal safety agency admitted in a letter to Peter Pan that the FMCSA did not adequately review Fung Wah's compliance with disability laws when Peter Pan and others raised concerns earlier this year.

In its latest complaint, Peter Pan told the FMCSA that Apex Bus, which may be the largest Chinese/American operator in the Northeast, did not have a single coach with a wheelchair lift even though, as a line-run company, it should have lift-equipped buses.

Like all line-run operators, Apex faces a deadline of Oct. 2006 or 2007, with the year depending on its annual revenues, of having to have half of its fleet wheelchair accessible.

In its investigation of speeding by Fung Wah, the Herald said that one of its reporters and photographers rode buses several times and they watched the speedometer at 80 mph on numerous occasions.

A company spokeswoman told the newspaper that speeding couldn't happen because the buses were governed so they couldn't go over 72 mph.

Fung Wah drivers were also observed talking on cell phones as they weaved in and out of traffic at high speeds.