The future of some Metro bus services remains uncertain as the state-owned transport company continues to grapple with a worker shortage.
190 cancellations today left hundreds of Tasmanians out in the cold again, with Metro now considering permanent cuts to certain services to improve reliability.
Daily disruptions have been affecting the Hobart bus network for several months now, leading Labor’s Shadow Minister for Transport Josh Willie to say the current operation is “clearly isn’t working”.
“We hit nearly a new milestone today with nearly 200 cancelled bus services across Hobart,” Willie said.
“With so many Tasmanians affected, the cancellations are having a negative impact on the economy as people with no other travel options are forced to be late for work.”
“I’d like to see this government do whatever it takes to get enough Metro bus drivers to conduct the services across our capital city.”
Premier Jeremy Rockliff said he was “aware of some changes that Metro are working through to ensure that we do improve that consistency and reliability and enable us to address what is a challenging time in terms of workforce pressures”.
Metro CEO Katie Cooper says Metro is continuing to work to deliver better reliability whilst implementing longer term measures to recruit and retain bus operators.
She says on average around 70 trips across Hobart are dropped per day, but the vast majority are still running.
At this stage, 103 services will not run on Wednesday.
