Commuters have benefited from a 40 per cent boost in the number of buses on the roads, the transport minister said yesterday.

Zane DeSilva explained that an improved maintenance schedule had increased the average number of in-service buses from 50 to 70 a day.

Mr DeSilva added that the improvements had led to “far fewer service cancellations”.

Mr DeSilva said the Department of Public Transportation had worked “tirelessly” to provide a better bus service with the addition of new vehicles and through maintenance and repair of the existing fleet.

He added: “I am pleased to report that nine new buses have entered the service over the past year and three more buses are scheduled to arrive between September and November this year.”

Mr DeSilva said the new vehicles included USB charging ports, on-board CCTV, and signs which complied with the Disability Discrimination Act.

He added that 14 older buses were recently given a “midlife refit” that would extend their life “by a minimum of five years”. Mr DeSilva said that another issue to tackle would be emissions problems with 16 vehicles.

He added that the school bus service would restart on September 9, a day before the start of the new term.

Mr DeSilva said that the safe and on-time transport of children to schools was of “paramount importance” and that the DPT would continue to send daily e-mails about after-school bus services.

He added that a recruitment drive had been launched to fill operational and technical positions in the DPT.

An advertisement for 15 bus driver jobs was published last week.

Roger Todd, the director of the DPT, said that the new drivers were needed to man the increased number of buses and “help to ease some of the burden on the overtime”.