All eyes may be set on the next General Election and the impending result on Tuesday night, but Bermuda’s bus operators are still grappling with the impact of buses that are out of service.
A number of drivers told Bermuda Real today that there were 62 buses out of service as of this morning. Another driver said that number went as high as 70 during the past week as well.
A request for the official count was sent in this morning. A response may be pending, but it has yet to have been received.
Now that schools are out for the summer break, bus cancellation have taken on a relatively low profile in recent weeks, but they are still happening.
The Transport Ministry has already stated that “maintenance issues may continue to hinder the public bus service”, and that they require at least 78 buses per day to cover the 12 routes serviced, with another eight buses for sightseeing tours.
The last time Bermuda Real updated this story in June, a spokesman said: “There remains some fluctuation in the number of buses designated as out-of-service.” But he said: “The Department of Public Transportation (DPT) continues its best efforts to keep up with the demands of the existing bus schedule, by juggling the available resources of the bus fleet.
“Where it is necessary, the DPT may be required to cancel the occasional run from a route that schedules bus departures at 15-minute intervals,” he added. And he apologised on behalf of the DPT for any inconvenience as a result of bus cancellations.
Meanwhile, no new buses are expected to be added to the ageing fleet until later this year.
