Buses halted as drivers go potty

Commuters and school children were left stranded yesterday when bus drivers withdrew their services over working conditions.

The sudden industrial action was taken because drivers had no bathroom facilities at either the Devonshire or St George’s facilities.

The Bermuda Sun understands that the St George’s Depot bathrooms have been closed for more than a month.

And drivers using the East End depot have had to use nearby facilities at the Police Club, the Sylvia Richardson Care Home and the community centre, instead of the depot’s own toilets.

Yesterday, pictures emerged of the depot’s bathroom facilities on Bernews, which revealed how in need of repairs they were.

Meanwhile, problems with the Devonshire Depot’s water supply, which developed over the weekend, meant there were no bathroom facilities for drivers when they arrived at work yesterday morning.

The Bermuda Sun contacted the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) to find out why they had not given notice of the stoppage. But we did receive a response.

We also tried to contact the Department of Works and Engineering to find out why the bathroom issues at the St George’s depot had not been resolved earlier, given that the problems had been ongoing for over a month. But we did not receive a response by the time we went to press.

Transport Minister Shawn Crockwell told the Bermuda Sun: “I would always prefer notice so that a contingency plan could be implemented but understood the drivers’ concern in the circumstances.

“I am pleased that we resolved the issues expeditiously.” Repairs ongoing A spokesperson for the department added: “The St.

George’s Depot bathrooms have been closed to operator use for over a month.

“Other nearby bathroom facility options have been opened to the bus operators for the entire period.

“The repairs will be ongoing for quite some time as there are structural issues that need to be resolved.” Yesterday’s stoppage lasted for just a few hours but caused considerable disruption for islanders trying to get to work and school.

By 10:30am the normal bus schedule was up and running again.

After a resolution had been reached with the drivers, a spokesman for the Department of Public Transportation (DPT) added: “DPT management and staff would like to apologize to our residents and visitors who were inconvenienced this morning.

“Plumbing issues at both the St. George’s Depot and Devonshire Depot meant there were no bathroom facilities for bus operators.

“DPT Management have worked with Works and Engineering staff to rectify the problem in the short term and have developed the way forward to ensure there are long-term solutions so that these problems do not occur in future.”