Department Updates On Bus Cancellations
Following the recent bus cancellations, the Department of Public Transportation said they “sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused” and noted that “once the new fleet of electric buses arrives in mid-August, the department aims to provide consistent service to the public.”
Today there were 85 cancellations, yesterday there were 77, and in the days prior cancellations ranged from 44 to 58 a day.
A Government spokesperson said, “With the need to still rely on the aging diesel buses in the fleet, the Department of Public Transportation is managing a busy summer season in which it can be challenging to meet the existing scheduled services.
“Our valued bus passengers will be glad to know that a new fleet of forty electric buses will arrive over four successive weeks. These buses represent an improved design and will operate throughout the 18-hour service day on a single charge, thereby reducing cancellations.
“Once the new fleet of electric buses arrives in mid-August, the department aims to provide consistent service to the public.
“The Department of Public Transportation sincerely apologises for any inconvenience caused and kindly requests the travelling public’s patience as they address these ongoing challenges.”
Well at last they have given some reasoning behind the cancellations.
What reasoning? How many of the routes are serviced by electric buses? (crickets)
“These buses represent an improved design and will operate throughout the 18-hour service day on a single charge, thereby reducing cancellations.” HA! BOOM! THERE IT IS! There are routes being canceled where electric buses are used. Did someone forget to plug in the electric buses to recharge the batteries? Opps, that is not in my job description. Did they break down and no one wants to admit that?
Why are the diesel buses not being properly maintained? (if they ever were – crickets) Why has not one reporter requested the maintenance records on the MAN buses and published a story? (crickets)
Are there forces in the Bermuda Triangle that caused MAN buses not to work when they work all over the world for 200,000+ miles? Are Bermuda’s magnetite deposits wreaking havoc with the MAN buses? Perhaps the electronics on the new electric buses are being impacted by the magnetite. Are the drivers not showing up? (crickets) There has been zero reporting on any of these items. BIG CRICKETS. s.
Somehow electric buses will save the day unless someone forgets to recharge the batteries. They never break down and drive themselves when drivers fail to show up. Never damage the roads with their extra weight from the batteries. After the 40 new buses arrive, what will be Government’s excuse when bus routes are still canceled?
Government makes it snow in Bermuda.
Quote: Once the new fleet of electric buses arrives in mid-August, the department aims to provide consistent service to the public.
It has been consistent for the last decade, consistently BAD! Adding 40 buses in August might help with the breakdowns, but the public will still be dealing with last minute cancellations because of a last minute union meeting, driver shortages due to planned sick days, lack or parts, not enough mechanics and all the other BS we have been dealing with.
Public transportation is a mess.
So blame it on the old fleet, yet in the statement, say the new buses aren’t lasting the full shift. At least Walter is busy collecting “his” awards for his post political career as an environmental consultant.
Why does an aging fleet cause 85 and 77 bus cancellations. A broken fleet would cause cancellations, but not a aging fleet. For a start every vehicle is aging as soon as it is taken off the lot, my car is over 10 years old and still is usable, it does not cause cancelled journeys. So this is nonsense, an excuse. They tell the public something to placate them for this ongoing PLP failure. Why suddenly have our buses stopped working. I would like a full report on the number of active, being serviced and also permanently unusable and unrepairable buses in the aging fleet.
How many of these canceled bus routes are serviced by electric buses? Asking again. Crickets… Are there any investigative reporters on the island? It is a simple question to ask.
Mismanagement, disorganisation, lack of strategic planning…bus cancellations have been a consistent part of life for years now, and it’s become acceptable common practice to leave our kids, our tourists and those that need to get to work on the side of the street….clearly there are individuals not doing their jobs and not being held accountable – starting with the minister of transport….I would have been fired long ago. DO BETTER.
Quote: Once the new fleet of electric buses arrives in mid-August, the department aims to provide consistent service to the public.
It HAS been consistent for the last decade! Consistently BAD! Adding 40 buses in August might help with the breakdowns, but it is obviously not enough, plus the public will still be dealing with last minute cancellations because union meetings or marches, driver shortages due to “planned” sick days, lack of parts, not enough mechanics, change of ministers, and all the other nonsense that we have been dealing with and paying for.
Public transportation is a mess. Government is a mess and we are paying for it!
This is a statement telling us that despite spending $millions of borrowed money on dozens of shiny new electric buses, there will still be cancellations every single day.
Forever. For as long as they are in charge.
OK you Brainards in PTB, with all the lane closures with traffic lights in the West End, why don’t you send a bus 15 minutes earlier for all those workers in Somerset and Dockyard who make 7:30AM or earlier?! Currently,your busses get people to work LATE BECAUSE OF THIS! Tooo much to think about isn’t it!
MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS: Why is Watford Bridge on the one lane taking Months to complete and still dragging on?! It is Tourist Season for goodness sakes! Just no adaptation on this Island at all! Too much SLUGGISHNESS, INCOMPETENCE AND BLOW -IT- to the Wind ATTITUDE! It has been past the point, that there are too many Negatives to speak about than Positives in the Quality of life here. It is Sickening!
Remember, your REPUTATION IS LOOKED AT WITH THESE FAILURES! Time is money, you know well!
OK , you Brainards in PTB, you know there are lane closures with traffic lights in the west End for months! Why don’t you send the bus 15 minutes earlier so that workers who make 7:30AM can get to work on time in
Dockyard ?! So much to ask for isn’t it! Very deplorable at adaptation on this Island! You nonsense excuse makers!
Also for you , minister of Public Works: why is Watford Bridge works in the same lane taking MONTHS to complete?! This is a disaster! This is stupid! Get on the ball and stop the excuses and get the work DONE!!! It is tourist season for goodness sakes!
Your valued customers would appreciate knowing what time the bus is coming, or if it is delayed or cancelled. Surely in these days and times, someone at PTB could design an app for this. So ppl at the bus stop would know whether to flag a taxi or how long the wait would be.
You don’t even need to design an app. You can put it into GTFS static or GTFS realtime and many apps (including Google Transit and the Transit app) will get the data for you.
How many E buses are on the road now?
What happened to all of the older buses? Did they suddenly all break down and are beyond repair?
Do drivers not want to drive the older buses?
The public is fed up listening to half baked excuses from PTB for why the bus service sucks.
This story: “These buses represent an improved design and will operate throughout the 18-hour service day on a single charge, thereby reducing cancellations.”
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see Headline May 26, 2023: ‘Excessive wet weather’ causes electric buses to break down
“Nine electric buses had interrupted service as a result of excessive wet weather,” the spokeswoman said.
Wayne Furbert, the Minister of Transport, told Parliament this month that electric buses had saved Bermuda $222,000 per bus in place of diesel. He added that the fleet had also reduced air pollution.
The existing fleet of 30 is to be expanded this summer with 40 more electric buses arriving in groups of ten from July 2023.
Once they are all operating, Bermuda will have a total complement of 70 electric buses, representing a 70 per cent fleet conversion.
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We do not know how many e-buses are working and on the road. That is classified along with the maintenance records of every e-bus and MAN diesel bus. The undersized e-buses have problems but never fear, the 40 new buses will be better than the 30 already in Bermuda!
The bottom line, the Government’s “savings” calculations on the e-buses were obviously bogus. A spin on an old saying: That e-bus don’t run.
Apologies are getting old, how many times are they going to sing that tune. There’s no excuse for incompetence. The public are tired and fed up of hearing it. Every time they open their mouth, there’s some half baked excuse coming out.
We always buy a bus pass when we visit. This is our only way we want to travel. Hope to be there in the fall, but all the cancellations cause me to maybe rethink coming. Get it fixed please.