The succession of last-minute cancellations that has plagued the bus service in the past two months should end once a new schedule is introduced in June, according to Transport Minister Shawn Crockwell.

Mr Crockwell told The Royal Gazette that he was hopeful that union members would agree to the schedule that had been presented to them.

He insisted the ministry was doing everything that it could to keep disruption to a minimum, and confirmed that the ad hoc cancellations would not affect cruise visitors to the Island.

Acknowledging that the constant series of daily cancellations had been “frustrating”, Mr Crockwell said: “We have tried to do the best we can, keeping people informed through media alerts and the website.

“Last week the average number of cancellations we had was ten per day. Previously, we had been seeing up to 40.

“There are 300 bus routes a day and we try to make sure that only the least heavily used ones are affected.”

Government plans to order a further four new buses this summer to add to the 16 buses that have been delivered in the past few years. At present, eight new operators are being trained, while the new schedule is expected to free up a further eight operators.

“Once we implement the new bus schedule, it will allow us to be more flexible,” Mr Crockwell added.

“In terms of sickness over the last month, we have ten operators on long-term sick leave, nine on short-term sickness and 11 operators on vacation. That is 30 operators not available, which makes things difficult.

“We will be in a very good situation with personnel come June. The goal is not to have any cancellations.”

The new bus schedule is aimed at establishing a more efficient service and better deployment of operators.

It is also designed to reduce the Government’s overtime liability that has averaged more than $2 million per year, which Mr Crockwell said was “simply not sustainable”.

He said he was cautiously optimistic that the new schedule would be agreed to by union members. “I am not sure what the union membership will say, but I hope we can reach an agreement,” Mr Crockwell said.

“This has to involve give-and-take and the bus operators have been involved in helping to develop this new schedule.

“I’m confident we want the same thing and hope we can work together.”

Although the schedule is not expected to take effect for two months, Mr Crockwell does not believe the recent cancellations will affect visitors to the Island.

He also revealed that the ministry planned to explore the possibility of changing the interval between peak-time services from every 15 minutes, as it is at present, to every 20 or 30 minutes.

“We always have eight buses set aside for charters when the cruise ships are in and this will remain the same,” he said. “Therefore, there should be no disruption to our visitors.

“All indications are that the system we have in place up in the West End will accommodate the several thousand visitors we get in the peak of the summer. It’s no easy task and we had some hiccups last year, but we firmly believe we have a system in place needed to co-ordinate the movement of our visitors around the Island.”