THURSDAY, JUNE 21: Buses were pulled off the road because of a mistake by a US shipping company, Transport Minister Walter Roban said today.
Mr Roban said a shipment of 300 tyres due to arrive in Bermuda had been sent to Philipsburg in St Maarten rather than Philadelphia in the US.
He added the tyres – which had been due to arrive in Bermuda last month – had to be sent back to Philadelphia before being rerouted to Bermuda.
Mr Roban said, however, that an emergency shipment of nearly 100 tyres had been ordered as a stopgap.
He added: “The short term challenge was not created by any fault of the Department of Public Transportation management or staff, but as a result of an error by the supplier.
“We quickly moved to solve the challenge and a solution to ensure this doesn’t happen again is being put in place.”
Mr Roban spoke out after Opposition claims that the problem – which meant 18 buses being taken off the road and disruption to peak time services on Wednesday – were a result of poor planning.
He said: “This Government will always be open with the public as much as we can if we anticipate problems with service delivery.
“We are always about solutions and the management and staff of the Department of Public Transportation responded quickly once this arose.