More than 100 Metro bus cancellations hit Hobart

More than 100 Metro bus services were cancelled on Wednesday, forcing some people to wake up as early at 5am and walk two suburbs to get to work. LIST OF CANCELLATIONS >

More than 100 metro buses were cancelled on Wednesday. Picture: Chris Kidd

MORE than 100 Metro bus services were again cancelled on Wednesday, forcing some people to wake up at 5am to commute to work.

It’s the latest round of mass bus cancellations to hit Hobart as Metro Tasmania grapples with an acute driver shortage.

It’s understood no school services were affected as a result of the disruption.

There were 102 service cancellations in and out of the city on Wednesday, prompting Labor transport spokesman Josh Willie to demand that the state government do more to address the issue.

“I’ve heard stories this morning of people having to get up at 5am and walk two suburbs to catch a Metro bus to get to their commitments,” he said. “We need a clear plan on how the government is going to turn this around because Tasmanians deserve safe, affordable and reliable public transport and they’re just not getting it under this government.”

Mr Willie said Transport Minister Michael Ferguson should be employing transit officers and installing screens in buses to protect passengers and drivers, which he said Metro employees had been crying out for.

“Some of this stuff is just basic stuff [where] the government could just listen to the drivers and take action,” he said. “And they’ve refused to do that.”

In a media conference last week, Metro CEO Katie Cooper (left) said service disruptions were expected “over the next week or two”.

MLC Josh Willie at Hobart. Picture: Chris Kidd

Metro Tasmania CEO Katie Cooper. Picture: Chris Kidd

“Metro is currently like, I think, a whole lot of industries, experiencing staff shortages,” she said.

“We’ve been recruiting quite strongly for the last number of months … and will continue to do so.

“There is a very, very tight labour market at the moment and it’s very challenging having people competing for the same talent that’s available in the marketplace. So we are actively working in that space and have been for a number of months.”

From Sunday through to Thursday, Metro is alerting customers about 4pm to anticipated service cancellations via social media and its website.

Government minister Madeleine Ogilvie acknowledged that cancellations were an “issue” and had proved “a bit challenging”.

“It really is up to Metro to respond to what planning they do but I’m pretty sure they do good planning,” she said.

“Things happen, contexts can change, and when there’s pressure on at these peak times, that is something we’re all concerned about.”

Ms Ogilvie said the government was “open to all good ideas” when it came to improving bus services and work conditions for drivers.