Five School Bus Runs Cancelled On Thursday
[Updated] The bus service cancellations are set to continue tomorrow [Mar 12], with the Transport Ministry saying that five runs will be cancelled; including three schools runs in the morning, and two school runs in the afternoon.
Schools Runs Cancelled For March 12
- #8 Dockyard [7:13am] to Berkeley
- #7 Dockyard [7:25am] to CedarBridge
- #8 Dockyard [7:10am] to CedarBridge
- #7 CedarBridge [3:30pm] to Dockyard
- #8 CedarBridge [3:30pm] to Dockyard
On Monday [Mar 9] the Ministry of Tourism Development & Transport said an “offer was presented to bus drivers to pay all overtime at time and a half,” however the drivers made a decision “to reject the payment of overtime at time and a half.”
Dan Simmons, the Director of Public Transportation said, “Currently the bus service is running with minimal disruptions. However, we are not in a position to pay double time for operators who will be asked to work on their days off so we do anticipate that there may continue to be occasional cancellations.”
Speaking at a press conference yesterday [Mar 10], BIU President Chris Furbert laid out the position of the drivers, saying they were concerned about whether the double-time for time and a half was in place across the whole of Government, the taxpayer funded Tourism Authority staff getting bonuses, and other matters.
Mr Furbert said that drivers have also been on a wage freeze since 2011, they gave up 19 months of furlough days, and noted that for 6 months in 2011, the BIU government workers worked overtime for straight time.
The bus service has been in the headlines frequently lately, as in addition to the overtime pay issue, there have been two collisions involving buses in the past 48 hours, one of which resulted in eight people receiving minor injuries.
Update 11.17am: The Transport Ministry provided an updated list of cancellations, with the five now reduced to four, as per below.
Updated list of bus cancellations for today, March 12
- #8 Dockyard [7:13am] to Berkeley
- #7 Dockyard [7:25am] to CedarBridge
- #7 CedarBridge [3:30pm] to Dockyard
- #8 CedarBridge [3:30pm] to Dockyard
If the bus system isn’t working then let’s privatize it !
It’s not hard to see that. Let’s make it work for Bermuda.
NO. Just reduce the scheduals and cut back on the slow routes. Its not rocket science make saving and keep jobs and benifits in place
*****BINGO*****
Tired of hearing from Dan Simmons talking about “double time”.
Find another job or get your self to the table and do something.
It looks as no private schools runs r cancelled. Riddles Bay. Montessori. Y all d others. Why why. Why.
Oh we know exactly why.
Because he can’t spell ‘why’?
because the private schools have to pay for the service, so that will cover the expense of running the bus and the greedy drivers involved. Lucky to have a job and grumble about overtime, wow I’ve never been paid overtime and never had a union bargain for my salary, did it all on my own, and been here 20 years plus and not planning on going anywhere anytime soon. It’s called work ethic, a word I am afraid alot of people don’t know the meaning of.
fire them all!!!!!!!!
Why the school run route? Isn’t education a priority? Shameful. Now we are down 2 buses as bus collisions are a daily occurrence.
Wait this is still going on? All these bus drivers are already overpaid, why are they being so demanding? These people who are refusing to show up to work should be fired. People NEED to get to work and school. This is just ridiculous.
Totally agree!
disagree. they are not overpaid. you have no idea what they have to deal with every day at work.
They don’t even have to show up for work so what the heck are you talking about? AND they get paid when they don’t show up!
You know what I have to deal with every day at work? WORK!
If they don’t like “what they have to deal with”, they should leave, and let others, who want to do it, have the job.
I’ll take a part time job and just pay me straight time. Those in favor say ‘i’
Many of you are complaining that the school buses are being cancelled and they should be. Most of the school children are not catching the school bus, but are catching the buses that route them through town to pick up the connection. So why waste designating a bus to them, when it can be used on another route. It is the same thing in the afternoon and this is why you see so many student’s in town, when they should have gone directly home on the school bus that had been provided for them. In the US if too many students are not utilizing the required school, then that service is cancelled.
There are a lot of students that catch the school bus. However, I have witnessed that there are many bus drivers that do not pick up students in the morning because they are to lazy to just stop and pull over, and most of the time there isn’t a second school bus to pick them up, leaving these students no choice but to take the regular bus to town, which makes them late for school. So, it not always the students. The bus drivers have a part to play in this as well.
They weren’t getting there point by canceling the adult routes so now they r going after the school kids.
There should be a full investigation into how the bus drivers have been trading around their sick shifts for double time and avoiding the furlough cuts.
Agree….for all government employees. I am sure they will easily identify the abusers that need to be fired, like yesterday. I am tired of paying for these abusers who are probably the biggest complainers.
you can’t fire them because if you do then all the union will do is call another strike and get them reinstated.
PRIVATIZE!!!
A pattern may well be apparent.
nice to see someone is paying attention
Sickouts causing cancellations. No. Sickouts caused by drivers not wanting to use their assigned bus. Grow children. You are a disgrace to those who rely on you to get us from home to destination & back.
no school no way to get there and no way to get home….
because it was impossible to cancel runs in the middle of the day so that the students weren’t affected right?
Yeah thought so.
Havin’ a rough day/week/month just stick it to the kids.
Pathetic.
I really do not understand all the call for privatization. How will a private bus service have prevented this problem?
1) there are drivers out on long term sick leave, which means they have the required documentation from their doctor. Shall we fire them? Does your employer fire staff who are sick, and have the required Doctor’s note?
2) shall the government hire replacement workers, and add to the staff headcount and salary bill?
3) ‘force’ drivers to come into work on their day off? Will a private company have this ability?
4) the law allows for unions and collective bargaining. Even if the service was private, we would have the same union officials negotiating the employment agreement.
They have 14 weeks sick leave and 7 weeks vacation. If they don’t use up all their 14 weeks sick leave, they can carry it forward to the following year, up to an additional 6 weeks. So if you add it all up, it’s easy for them to have a year when they have 27 weeks off for one reason or another. That’s over half a year. Paid for by the taxpayer.
And that is why our children don’t have buses to go to school.
Find out the names of the doctors signing these sick reports. There may be a pattern.