THUNDER BAY — Mayor Ken Boshcoff is concerned about a shortage of transit drivers which he says has affected multiple bus routes in Thunder Bay in recent days.
Transit management could not immediately be reached for comment, but according to the mayor, the system was seven drivers short of what was needed on Monday.
"We've heard that [Sunday] saw severe problems, and [Monday] it is worse. Apparently it's the flu. The bottom line is that they did not have seven drivers for seven routes, so I'm just trying to dig down to find out what's going on, because people depend on transit in a major way."
The mayor said the scope of the problem was evident at the transit hub right outside city hall.
"It's a very noticeable absence. There's only one bus now, when at this time of day there normally are several. We have confirmed at transit that the reason is a lack of drivers."
Fred Caputo, president of Amalgamated Transit Union local 966, told TBnewswatch he's unaware of flu causing the shortage, but said a lack of trained operators is starting to impact service more and more frequently.
He said transit normally has 99 full-time drivers, plus about 30 part-timers, but it currently needs about 15 operators.
According to Caputo, a key reason for the shortfall is that overwork and stress are putting drivers on sick leave, creating a situation that's now being exacerbated by operators taking their summer vacations.
He said recruiting and training new drivers is challenging because it can take three months to get an appointment at the driver testing centre.
A similar situation arose around this time last year.
Boshcoff said he planned to raise the issue as an item of new business at the council meeting Monday evening.
"This is way too important to just let go," he said.
According to a post on Thunder Bay Transit's Facebook page, a total of 12 trips on different routes were cancelled on Monday for various, but mostly short, periods.
The only explanation provided in the post was "operational issues."
In a brief email Tuesday, transit manager Brad Loroff told Dougall Media "The trip cancellation notifications that we are occasionally publishing are attributed entirely to operate shortage issues. The summer vacation scenario is unfortunately amplifying those issues at times, and we hope to see things get better over the coming months."
