Shadow transport minister Lawrence Scott has blamed budget cuts for continuing problems with the island’s bus fleet.

It comes after a Ministry of Transport spokesman revealed yesterday that a number of buses would be taken out of service for inspection after a wheel came off a bus in Sandys on Friday.

The incident took place less than nine months after the number of buses off the roads surged to 53 because of problems ranging from electrical issues and overheating to accidents.

However, the spokesman was unable to confirm how many passengers were on board the bus and how many buses would be pulled out of service as a result.

“This is a reflection of the budget cuts that the OBA Government has made in relation to preventive maintenance and necessary maintenance on these buses,” Mr Scott told The Royal Gazette.

According to Mr Scott, the OBA administration had shown an “historic” record for problems with island’s complement of buses.

“We’ve never had a bus catch on fire before or this many buses out of service at any given time,” he said.

Mr Scott also referenced an incident in June 2015, when an empty bus ploughed into a building on Washington Street after its brakes failed.

And he estimated that at least 80 per cent of the motoring public would be able to recall a broken down bus on the side of the road with no one in it under the OBA Government.

“That is not something we saw before,” he added.

“The PLP had the strongest economy this country has ever seen under Alex Scott. And you didn’t see buses breaking down under former minister Ewart Brown. The OBA touts itself as being good at business. How can you say you are good at business if you are running a department where reliability is key but there is no reliability?

“Under the OBA, we’ve had people waiting for buses that never came,” he said, adding that there was no forewarning this would happen.

Mr Scott said he had urged the Government to spend its money wisely during the Budget debate and yet it “seems that this Government likes to cut budgets for the sake of cutting budgets”.

“Which means there is inefficient and ineffective management of the public purse. This coming from the Government that supposedly has all the business-minded and business-savvy people.”

He added that the incident was also a reflection of the Government not listening to its people, the frontline workers and labourers who have spoken out about “what they need to be successful”.

According to the Government spokesman, all buses of the same make and model as the one involved in the incident on Friday will be inspected.

“The Ministry has liaised with personnel in the Department of Public Transportation who are actively investigating a reported incident in Sandys parish involving a parked bus in the White Hill area bus lay-by,” the spokesman said. “Initial reports indicate that a wheel was dislodged, causing passengers to board a second bus.

“The DPT has undertaken to pull all the vehicles of that make and year out of service to carry out a thorough inspection before they are put back into the fleet.”

The spokesman added that the DPT was “committed to providing the most efficient service and regards the safety of the passengers of the utmost importance” and will endeavour to keep the service running “as smoothly as possible while remedying the situation”.

The Royal Gazette approached Transport Minister Michael Fahy, but he was unable to comment.