Cancelled buses worry exam-stressed students

HSR woes may lead to missed tests during crucial period at Mac

Sheri Rahman says she learned a hard lesson ahead of two weeks of critical exams starting at McMaster University: Don’t rely on the bus to get there on time.

The fourth-year student lives in Ainslie Wood and has long used the HSR route 51 bus for a quick ride to morning classes.

But a mix of full and missing buses last Wednesday left her sprinting into class 15 minutes late — just long enough to miss a test worth two per cent of her overall grade.

“I thought I left early (enough) because I knew there had been problems,” said Rahman, who later that day took to Twitter to blast the beleaguered city bus service that cancelled nearly 600 buses in October due to lack of available drivers.

She employed a new strategy for her first exam Friday. “I walked. It’s either that or leave 45 minutes or an hour early,” she said. “I’m too terrified of missing one (exam).”

The latest statistics provided to The Spectator show the city cancelled 255 buses over the last two weeks of November, or an average of about 18 a day.

The HSR did not provide a requested breakdown of total missing buses on routes serving McMaster like the 51, 1A, 5A and 5C.

But in an emailed statement, the service said during the Dec. 9 to 22 exam period “operations staff will do their best to avoid cancellations on these routes.”

The HSR continues to cancel service in December — and spur increasingly frustrated responses from residents trying to get to school or work — even after receiving union and provincial Ministry of Labour permission to ask drivers to work up to 68 hours a week.

Newly trained drivers are also slowly joining the HSR’s depleted ranks.

Council recently gave the transit service permission to add the equivalent of 58 drivers beyond the budgeted maximum workforce.

But the hiring and training of drivers takes time.

(In reality, it actually means hiring no more than 33 new drivers, since the service was already over budget by 25 drivers in October.)

The McMaster Students Union met with city transit officials a couple of weeks ahead of the exam period to raise concerns about missing service, said president Chukky Ibe.

(Mohawk College students face the same challenges — but exams are later in January as a result of a schedule change caused by the recent faculty strike.)

“We need stable, reliable service — especially during this critical period,” said Ibe. “The last thing we want is students missing their exams because they can’t get the buses.”

Ibe noted all students help pay for the HSR through their student fees — and that amount increased yet again last year via a referendum. “We are ready for improved transit. We are just waiting for council to make the necessary investments,” he said.

Riders and transit advocates increasingly argue the source of the problem is a chronically underfunded HSR system, with investments not keeping pace with inflation or population growth.

The city upped bus fares in 2015 and 2016 to try to fix “deficiencies” in the system such as crowded lower city buses — but council also opted to put off promised taxpayerfunded budget and service improvements this year.

Advocates are now girding for what could be a pivotal transit budget battle early in 2018.

The city and driver’s union have been at loggerheads over the reasons behind the spike in missing buses.

The city pointed to a period of high driver absenteeism in October that peaked at 19 per cent, but has so far said it cannot provide the details behind swelling short-term and long-term disability statistics (7.3 and 5.5 per cent for that period, respectively).

Union head Eric Tuck argued the city has long underfunded and understaffed the system, relying on “chronic” overtime from drivers to mask poor scheduling.

He has pointed to staff “burnout” combined with assaults on drivers and a poor work relationship with a new management team — which the union has called to be replaced.

HSR director Debbie Dalle Vedove told HSR staff in a letter this month “significant improvements” have been made, but also acknowledged extra overtime is not a “sustainable” solution.

Despite the problems, enough drivers have volunteered to work New Year’s Eve to allow the HSR to offer free service that night from 6 p.m. until 2:30 a.m. on select routes.

For details, visit hamilton.ca/hsr or check out @hsr on Twitter.