Mechanical issues continue to plague bus service in Greater Victoria, with more trip cancellations on the way for the foreseeable future, B.C. Transit warns.
B.C. Transit said there were 19 trip cancellations on Tuesday by 8 a.m., but had no firm numbers for the rest of the day.
One bus was sidelined Monday night when a cooling-line break resulted in steam coming out the back end. The bus was quickly repaired by a maintenance team at the scene and returned to service.
B.C. Transit said it’s also dealing with a shortage of mechanics that’s affecting all transportation organizations, resulting in a backlog of required work on buses.
“While we are actively recruiting and hiring new mechanics, it takes new maintenance team members time to build their knowledge base with our fleet,” B.C. Transit said.
Unifor Local 333 president Stephen Bains, whose union represents bus drivers and mechanics, said it’s not simply a matter of an aging fleet with maintenance issues and a lack of labour.
He said the problem isn’t the older buses — some of which date to 2005 and 2006 — but the new buses with their more complex elements.
“With additional fuelling systems such as [compressed natural gas], the subsequent components and systems on the buses are far more intricate than a conventional diesel bus and that prolongs the maintenance process.”
Bains said procedures to deal with those systems haven’t been put in place. “There’s a lot of inefficiencies that our members have identified, which has resulted in what we are now seeing.”
He said the current number of mechanics is actually close to a full complement of 52.
“If you were to look at the saturation of the shop, it’s actually quite rare to see an empty bay with no bus and no mechanic,” Bains said.
In addition, mechanics are putting in from half a million to a million dollars worth of overtime per year, he said.
As trip cancellations continue, bus riders are being advised to use transit apps and to check for alerts at bctransit.com/ victoria/schedules-and-maps/alerts.
They can also sign up for route-specific alerts that will be emailed directly to them.
“B.C. Transit understands the impact these trip cancellations have on riders and does its best to notify customers immediately,” the corporation said in a statement. “Once a trip cancellation has been confirmed, alerts are issued on B.C. Transit’s website.”
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