Transport Minister Terry Lister has vowed to crack down on bogus sick leave as he says bus drivers are to blame for timetable cuts.Mr Lister has pointed the finger at the “unnecessary number” of bus drivers pulling ‘sickies’ as he struggles to run the timetable with reduced funds.He says drivers “who abuse the system” are disrupting services as transport bosses can no longer afford to pay the overtime costs of replacement drivers.It is estimated that up to ten out of about 130 drivers phone in sick on a daily basis leaving “huge holes” in scheduled services.But Mr Lister is now warning those drivers who phone in sick when they want a day-off that they are “being watched.”He says the Department of Transport is currently “analysing the information” and managers will take the appropriate action to try to prevent further cancellations.Mr Lister said: “These drivers are in the service business and I expect them to provide a service.“But every single day we are experiencing an interruption to services. Some days we have two pages of cancellations to services, this shows how many drivers are off sick, it’s not good enough.“The people of Bermuda deserve better. They are paying for a service with their taxes and they expect it to be delivered.”The Royal Gazette has published several stories on the disruption to bus services after the Department of Transport had its budget reduced by $1.3 million, down seven percent from last year.Bosses have described the cancellations as “cost-effective cuts” but passengers have complained they have been left not knowing when the next bus is going to show up.Mr Lister explained that four drivers, who are not assigned to any routes, are on standby each day to cover routes when drivers call in sick.In the past if more than four drivers called in sick on any given day, off-duty drivers would be called in for overtime at time-and-a-half or double pay.But from April 1, transport bosses changed the set-up so “no drivers means no services.” Mr Lister said they were trying to save money by not “paying two people to do the same job” the driver who called in sick and the replacement driver.So now if more than four drivers call in sick, bosses draw up a cancellation list detailing the route numbers and times of buses that won’t operate.These cancellation lists are being drawn up on an almost daily basis and can contain as many as 25 routes, suggesting that five to 10 drivers are phoning in sick each day.Mr Lister said: “These unassigned drivers don’t know what route they are doing each day. When the first driver calls in sick, the first unassigned driver is sent out and so on and so forth.“This continues until all four drivers are out on the road covering sickness, then we draw up the cancellation list.“We can’t afford to be paying two people to do the same job. If drivers came to work, we wouldn’t have a cancellation list.”Mr Lister said “in an ideal world” he would like to see a 100 percent attendance rate for all bus drivers. This would mean the four unassigned drivers could be “put to good use” elsewhere in the Department of Public Transportation.He said: “I’m not talking about the long-term sick; those people who have a doctor’s note saying they can’t work for however many weeks are taken off the schedule.“And if people genuinely have a cold or the flu, then of course they shouldn’t come in to work and make a whole bus full of people sick.“The real concern is those who phone in sick because they want some time at home or because they are having a bad day. They don’t have a doctor’s note, it’s uncertified leave.“I believe if you are paid to work, you should work, it’s as simple as that.”Mr Lister said the problem of unauthorised sick leave would be addressed. He said PTB bosses were currently analysing the sick day data and would speak to those drivers concerned. Mr Lister said: “We will handle things.”Cancellation lists have been e-mailed to “a select few” since the beginning of the month, but from Wednesday the lists have been sent to the media and put on Facebook. This is to “get the word out to a wider audience.”Mr Lister said cancellation lists were drawn up and circulated at about 11am. He said routes affected tended to be those “used the least” from about midday to 4pm with school children and those needing to get home from work taking priority.Mr Lister stressed that most bus routes ran every 15 or 30 minutes so passengers “wouldn’t have to wait long.”He said: “We believe everyone should be able to get home on the bus, but some may not be able to get home as quickly as they’d like.“Some routes are being cancelled and people will have to wait for the next bus and that will slow them up.”Mr Lister added he found it “bothersome” that bus cancellations were still a talking point, because he was doing his best “to calm the situation down.”He said with “such a significant budget cut” timetable cuts were the only way to save the bus service.Mr Lister said: “We have to run the best service we can provide under the circumstances or I will have to stop providing the service altogether.”Mr Lister added that a normal holiday bus service would run tomorrow (Good Friday) with drivers “being paid as per their contract of service.”