Hundreds of buses in Ipswich, Logan cancelled as flu, Covid trigger driver shortage

Bus users across the southeast are bracing for another week of cancellations after an unprecedented driver shortage due in part to the flu and Covid.

Drivers required: Rail Back on Track's Robert Dow said Ipswich and Logan were in the grips of a bus driver shortage with hundreds of cancellations expected this week.

A bus driver shortage, blamed on an early flu season, Covid and vaccine mandates, has plunged Ipswich and Logan bus users into a service cancellation crisis.

In one day last week, there were 126 bus services cancelled across the state with 79 of those axed from Ipswich.

Ipswich route 503, which runs from RiverLink Shopping Centre, had 16 cancellations in the 24 hours to the end of Friday’s morning peak rush, with 15 services axed on the sister route 502 and a further 10 dropped on route 509.

Logan services also copped the brunt of the staff shortages with 21 cancelled over the same period to 10am on Friday.

The worst affected Logan service, with four cancellations, was route 573, which runs from Loganholme into Brisbane.

But the staffing deficit is not confined to the southeast with Mackay services gutted late last month and Townsville, Toowoomba, Gold Coast and Redland also suffering cancellations during peak hours.

Transport advocate Rail Back on Track alerted Transport Minister Mark Bailey and service provider TransLink to the failures.

Rail Back on Track's Robert Dow said Ipswich and Logan were in the grips of a bus driver shortage with hundreds of cancellations expected this week.

Rail Back on Track’s Robert Dow called for better management of buses in the southeast and said commuters would not suffer as much if TransLink gave adequate warning.

He said it was not good management to issue warnings of service cancellations a minute before a bus was due to arrive, as happened on Friday in Ipswich when there was less than 10 minutes’ notice that the 503 service had been cancelled.

He called for a temporary reduction in timetables during the flu season and driver shortage to give customers service certainty.

“Mackay had a problem a few weeks ago and did not have enough drivers to service their usual timetable so they reduced their bus timetable to allow them to deliver a reliable service,” he said.

“The services in Mackay went back to normal once drivers returned to work – and that worked really well because customers were not inconvenienced or left waiting at bus stops for hours.

“There would be nothing worse than being stranded in the back blocks of Ipswich waiting for a bus that is never going to arrive.

“If a bus service is cancelled in Ipswich or Logan, users can have waits of up to three hours for a replacement.

“The network was short of drivers before the flu season and Covid so it is now pushed to the limits.”

Mr Dow said the Ipswich cancellations were a problem because there were no substitute services, unlike in Brisbane where there were alternatives.

TransLink said it aimed to inform customers of known disruptions.

It said it did not employ bus drivers and could not answer questions about driver shortages, mandate compliance, or reasons drivers were absent from work.

“TransLink contracts bus companies to deliver services,” a spokesman said.

“The most common reason for bus service disruptions (as opposed to cancellations) last month was traffic related.

“We work with bus operators to ensure the timely delivery of public transport services.

“Where there are impacts to service reliability, TransLink monitors and works closely with bus operators to minimise customer disruption by prioritising high impact services and ensuring appropriate service levels are maintained.”