Dilapidated buses and “unfair” management are frustrating bus drivers, according to Bermuda Industrial Union head Chris Furbert.

“The answer is that they need to buy more buses,” Mr Furbert said after union staff met on Thursday morning with officials at the Department of Public Transportation. Mr Furbert said workers were “concerned” about the management team’s attitude towards the collective bargaining agreement with unionised staff.

Roger Todd, the new director at DPT, “wants to have an urgent joint consultation committee with the union next week”, Mr Furbert said.

Staff were unhappy with “the condition of the buses and their basic working area”.

“A host of issues have been ongoing over the last three, four, five, seven years,” the BIU president said, citing problems from air conditioning not working to engines breaking down. Staff are concerned about the amount of time it takes to resolve these issues,” Mr Furbert said.

“You’re talking about providing a serve for the public. People complain when the buses aren’t working, but the staff need to be able to do the job. The fleet has aged and you can only do so much maintenance. If DPT has 100 buses and let’s say 80 of them are past their shelf life, what do you think is going to happen?”

Route cancellations this year have been upwards of 90 routes on some days, including school bus routes.