Sunday bus services cut due to driver shortages

Bus Vannin said the reduction in Sunday services was temporary

The frequency of Sunday public bus services has been reduced on the Isle of Man due to driver shortages, the operator has said.

Bus Vannin said the "temporary" changes would predominately affect the southern routes, which would be reduced from every 20 minutes to every half hour.

This latest update comes amid ongoing disruption to the island’s public bus services due to a lack of qualified bus drivers.

However, the government-funded bus operator said although "challenges" remained, it was "pleased to see an improvement in recent days with regard to covering scheduled services”.

Recruitment

In a statement it said: "While we continue to work through the recruitment of new staff and support the return to work of those currently absent we hope the upward trend continues.

“We are aware that late changes may still affect our ability to cover, especially as we approach busier times towards the weekend."

Peak hours and school travel would "continue to be our priority”, it added.

Bus Vannin stated that the details of the temporary reductions would be posted on its website this week.

The latest wave of disruption began in September, when 23 services were cut over two days.

Infrastructure Minister Tim Crookall previously said that the "low level loss of service" would "continue until new recruits become operational”, however he could not give a date the disruption was expected to end.

In answer to a question for written answer, he told Tynwald members the staffing issues were in part due to driving staff only needing to give two weeks’ notice, while the recruitment and training process for drivers took "considerably longer".