Good morning,
Today, I am pleased to have the opportunity to give a brief update on the Public Bus Service, and progress being made within the Department of Public Transportation (DPT).
The school bus service will resume on Monday, September 9th.
I want to encourage parents and students to review the school bus schedule on the Government website, www.gov.bm/bus. Transporting students to and from school safely, and on time is a high priority for DPT. School administrators will continue to receive daily email confirmations of afterschool bus services. DPT has been working to increase the available bus fleet with new bus deliveries and maintenance projects for the existing fleet. Nine new buses have entered service over the past year, with three more buses due to arrive between September and November. The new buses feature onboard CCTV, Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) compliant destination signs and USB charging ports at each passenger seat.
In addition to the arrival of new buses, maintenance projects have improved the availability of the current fleet. DPT, with the support of manufacturer MAN, recently completed a mid-life refit on fourteen 2009 series buses to ensure five years of extended service life. A further project has now commenced on the sixteen 2014 series buses to address poor emissions and soot. The improved maintenance has resulted in the average, daily in-service count increasing from 50 to 70 buses, which in turn has resulted in fewer service cancellations.
With the added demand of the school bus service, DPT will continue to keep the public informed of daily cancellations via the Bus Alert page on the Government website, and via e-mail to cancellation notice subscribers. In keeping with this Government’s commitment to enhance the public bus service and reduce emissions, the Ministry of Tourism and Transport recently issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for low emission, appropriately sized, and accessible buses. We will be considering smaller buses for shorter local routes, as well as electric, diesel and hybrid drivetrains. The RFP will close on September 16th, 2019.
Last but not least, I would like to inform the public that we have launched a recruitment campaign for a variety of Operations and Technical posts within DPT. Please visit www.bermudajobboard.bm over the coming weeks to view all advertised positions. We at the Ministry and Department remain committed to “Moving Bermuda with a quality public bus service”.