Ministry: 72 Buses Currently Out Of Service
[Updated] Six buses broke down this morning [Aug 24], so now there are 72 buses — out of a total fleet of 105 — currently out of service, and the Government said they are “in the process of determining how this longstanding issue can finally be addressed, once and for all.”
A Ministry of Transport & Regulatory Affairs spokesperson said, “The Department of Public Transportation remains challenged by the island’s ageing bus fleet.
“The Government is in the process of determining how this longstanding issue can finally be addressed, once and for all.
“Existing problems were further compounded this morning when there were six [6] bus breakdowns. One of the primary problems is that the engines of the buses have been overheating. Most routes have been affected by these problems.
“Additional new buses are on order and are expected to be on the road, starting near the end of the year.
“Presently, there are seventy two buses out of service out of a fleet 105. This leaves the DPT with a severe shortage of equipment to service Bermuda’s bussing needs.
“Maintenance staff have been working overtime to get buses back in service. The DPT apologises for any inconvenience caused to the travelling public.”
Update 5.22pm: We asked the Ministry for clarification on how many new buses are on order and the cost of them, and the Ministry told Bernews, there are four new buses order, and the cost is $1.2 million for the four buses, which “includes shipping and duty.”
Got to blame the previous Plp government for this. Signed an agreement to bring new buses in. DPT can’t get parts. Buses were obsolete when put on road.
The constant neglect by O.B.A. to have a good case to privatize has been busted.
Agree 100 percent let’s see how they get out of this one now there are voted in again
Any PLP supporter who thinks that all of a sudden there will be money for new buses, money to upgrade schools, money to hire civil servants and all the other promises are in for a very big shock. The OBA managed to reduce the budget deficit from over $300m in 2012 to $134m now. David Burt has promised to balance the budget by 2019. That means he has to find at least $134m savings in current expenses. That means less expenses, less civil servants and definitely no extra spending. Don’t think taxes can be raised by anything like that amount. This will be new ground for the PLP.
lets go colonal sort it out spend spend spend
Did plp leave anything to spend
Good lord.
And the new school semester is right around the corner.
Can this situation be rectified both short and long term?
Who cares. PLP is in power now and they are going to fix stuff like this. I’m sure they will be back on the road next week. It was only the OBA who couldn’t b bothered to fix things for grass roots Bermudians.
My friend lives in a city of 375,000 and the fleet size is 195 which includes para transit.
All part of the plan.
Friends and family will get $40 million for shipping, handling et al.
Old buses will be sold by (&*^%$%) to Cuba
Win win.
Here we go again both Governments are at fault. 5 years ago buses were breaking down every day and I even gave lifts to people who came off a broken down bus. This is unacceptable. How can we survive when 72 of the 105 buses and that’s about 80% or more are broken down and under repair. Hire proper mechanics to fix them. Get it together!!!!!!
72 out of 105. I’d be embarrassed if I worked at the PTB Garage, but something tells me that this has something to do with our election. Sorry PLP you’re NEVER going to balance the Budget…
Agree 100 percent all the money was used for Port Royal and who was involved and now he is back in Lord Lord lLord
Wake up
Sounds like O.B.A.’s plan to privatize de buses by total neglect, has been exposed.
GOT THAT RiGHT
the question is: with a promise to balance the budget, how will the PLP fund this?
They will keep raising pension funds.
Food for thought, with so many mini buses on the island, why can’t some of the pm be used to transort just the school children mornings and afternoons.
It would be a win win, until such time as buses can be replaced
It seems to me that with that many buses off the road it should be possible to cannibalize at least half that number to fix at least half. I wonder if we have enough mechanics to get the job done?
Isn’t it kind of refreshing that the new government is not blaming the old, just accepting it is their role and promising to fix.
Best comment ever!!!!^^^^^^^^
Right on!! Refreshing is the word . . . .
The PLP will fix it? They couldn’t fix it between 1998 and 2012, just like Education. Now both are worse as thee is no money. Best solution is to privatize both and get rid of the fat. It will of course increase unemployment but it will reduce costs and increase efficiency for the private sector tax payer.
FYI it’s 2017
Good idea
Not only that, they’re going to get all the buses running AND expand the economy into offshore gambling, sea bed mining, and IT incubators. Just like that.
The truth with this island is the blame usually belongs with some civil servant. I just want to know what is going on with the court case for the missing $300K.
Maybe the reason they’re not blaming the OBA is because they realize that their own roosters have finally come home .
A senior Public Transport member told me in 2009 that everything was breaking down and there wasn’t any money to buy the parts needed .
Now any spare cash is being diverted to feed nancy , and who created that mess ?
2009? Its 2017, 8 years later………..
Just goes to demonstrate the extent of the damage that was done , eh ?
We could’ve used $77 Million to improve
Kinda hard when they’re at fault lmfao
Oh they are (nasaly voice)?
And this is it!
Provide the list of repairs required ie:
1.) How many are out for brake system issues
a)Brake pads
b)brake shoes
c)Linkage
2.) How many are out for engine problems
a)fuel system
b)coolant issues
c)oil system failure
d)belts
3.)How many are out for Frame issues
a)replacement of broken windows
b)waiting on repairs to fiberglass panels
c)waiting for repairs to running lights,signal lights
4.) How many are out because of vandalism
5.) How many buses are written off and can they be used for spares.
6.) What is the lead time for spare parts from overseas?
7.) What are the extra drivers doing during the day if there are no buses to operate?
8.) What other garages have the capability to work on the buses to move the repairs along faster?
9.) How many mechanics are on staff at PTB per day?
10.) How many buses are out of service simply for tire changes?
Most of them were working during the America’s Cup so what changed?
Wear and tear
damn ridiculous!!!!!!
Why are the plp so quiet on this. Their fault in the first place. I guess plp & supporters have short term memory loss.
The PLP needs to put the new schedule in place
Electric busses will be the way to go eventually. Far less maintenance issues day to day. We could buy a few to start with.
Yes!!!!
Why does Bermuda continue to buy expensive, unreliable custom buses when there are stock city buses such as the Mitsubishi Fuso MP300 series buses readily available without any mods needed for Bermuda?
Buy/lease them from the local dealer, who will also be responsible for maintenance.
Privatise the whole public transport for that matter. The DPT has proven time after time that they are incapable of running what is, after all, a very small bus system.
I agree. Time to think outside the box. What about making a global statement and get some electrical buses? Fewer moving parts and you can use all of that roof space at your depot for solar collection. Instead of selling power back to Belco use the Tynes Bay waste to energy to energised electric buses!
At least there must be savings by only having to pay 33 drivers instead of 105. If only.
I call Bull$h!t
I wonder how many buses could have been bought with 77 Million dollars ?
Or maintained!!!!! But you know, had to build an island to house a billionaire playground.
False, that money was spent by WEDCO but nice deflection. Further money was earned from the AC, unlike the $49million sitting in a concrete jungle on South Shore costing money to be maintained while empty.
How many could have been maintained with the $60m wasted on Grand Atlantic? Or the $25m (tendered and quoted at $4m) wasted returfing the golf course? Or the $25m (tendered and quoted at $8m) building a swimming pool?
At least the AC did something for us.
Anyway, let’s see the PLP build on this year’s numbers. If they can.
I agree along with the missing 800 million .
“I wonder how many buses could have been bought with 77 Million dollars ?”
Much less than you could buy with $800M
It’s the same news all the time!!!
Don’t matter who’s in charge.
It’s the same pile of $H1t. Still stinks
Maybe you should out source the maintenance and repairs on the entire fleet.
we need to blame ourselves for putting the OBA and PLP in power. until we get people to work for bermuda out of love and not money we will forever be in this situation. this island has been on a steady decline for 15 + years and it won’t change anytime soon with they type of people we have running the country!
Truth.
Volvo make electric and hybrid buses and ABB supply the charging stations. Wouldn’t hurt to do a pilot program.
Also why is there duty on the buses that were ordered? Is govt paying itself? Sounds like a waste of time including duty on something that’s a public service.
hell every afternoon for the last few week, I leave town travelling east on #11 the bus goes up to the garage to change drivers, these buses aren’t getting any rest period ! working like that I see why the bus over heats
They tell me that the UBP /OBA hired a top gun consultant , and every since , the situation did get worse .
They tell me , that consultant ain’t worth 2 hits , but he still there making more money than the director .
They say that the drivers are careless and bust out the glass faster than speedy Gonzales taking a dump . Soons the repair guy puts in a new window front , here comes the same bus back in , window front busted , brand new adhesive still goey and wet .
I hear say that the guys in the bodyshop and where they paint the parts are Sooo fed up , they jess let the bus out looking like camouflage knowing that the new part will be a target for a tired driver , and sho’nough the same bus come back tore up from the floor up within three days
Now I know that’s a lot of busses out , and besides , didn’t one burn up the other day ?
Time four some heads to roll !
Oh , hire some friendly faces , some of them conductors are just drivers .
But you can’t fire anyone incompetent. PLP/BIU. They have guaranteed jobs for life. 6 weeks vacation, 70 days sick leave, carry forward any sick leave you don’t use.
So five weeks after the maintenance workers realize they will never be fired, the buses start breaking down. 6 broke down yesterday, in one day.
The problem is that the mechanics who work on these buses are not qualified enough to maintain them when problems arise, the bus garage does not have a Master Technician to diagnose the problems and organise the repairs. I used to oversee a fleet of thousands of vehicles in Bermuda and we never had more than a couple out of service and even then for no more than 2-3 weeks.
Exactly Sir – OBA and PLP sycophants trying to politicize this issue…same old drum beat. The technicians are simply not good enough. What is sad is that there is a machine shop up there capable of producing most anything required. Only a mediocre technician blames parts availability. Parts can be retrofitted to get the fleet going…
There is a bus on the road that is absolutely black, with “clean me please” written on the back. There lies the problem, if I was a driver I would be too ashamed to be driving around in a bus looking like that. Do the mechanics in the garage have the same attitude?
Good point anyone familiar with a diesel knows that the bus is running rich…can be clogged air filter, a cylinder going out our injector pump timing…all fixable. Not the OBA’s fault, not the PLP’s fault. The technicians fault.
Who runs the maintenance dept? How many people work in that dept? What are they actually doing if so many vehicles are out of order? Who does the parts ordering? What a mess and on our small island, people should be ashamed of themselves taking pay for doing nothing…if this is not true then let’s hear the real story please.
When is Bermuda going to get a legitimate car pooling system? So many individuals in a car that you would think their could be an app where you can coordinate this stuff. 22 square miles… shouldn’t be rocket science.
So the ferries keep breaking down, the garbage trucks keep breaking down and the buses keep breaking down – are we sensing a trend here? Perhaps the problem lies not with the assorted vehicles/boats etc but with those purporting to maintain them?
How about you hire people that actually know how to properly maintain these things, absolute waste of millions of taxpayer dollars and the guy at the top needs to be held accountable for this disgrace
it is all about maintenance !
those buses are running in many countries of the world , even in countries who have temp. of above 50 C !
but here it is too hot ? sounds like an excuse !
let the professionals do the maintenance and not only those , who think they can do everything.