Staff shortages force LibertyBus to reduce frequency of services

Friday 08 July 2022

Certain bus routes – including the popular 15 and 1 services – will run less often from Monday during the week because of a shortage of drivers.

Customers are also asked to keep an eye on LibertyBus’s Facebook and Twitter feeds for information on cancelled journeys.

The frequency of Route 15 and Route 1 will reduce from every 15 minutes to every 20 minutes between 09:00 and 16:30, and Route 20 to half hourly from every 20 minutes. It is hoped full service will resume the following week.    

LibertyBus Director Kevin Hart said: “Over the last few months, LibertyBus has been struggling to recruit staff – just like many other Jersey businesses. We are currently eight drivers short on our full-time roster due to retirement and people moving to other industries – with around four further drivers on long term sick.

“Up till now, LibertyBus has managed to avoid the impact of a shortage of qualified drivers by the continued effort from all the staff, many of whom have been working overtime. 

“However, the driver shortfall is being felt more as the summer schedule is now in full swing – including increased frequency on Route 14 and the introduction of the Route 20 Town service. Summer also marks a time of higher scheduled staff holidays. 

“The combination of higher summer frequencies and scheduled staff holidays mean that we can no longer tackle the driver shortage through more overtime. It is with regret that we need to make some temporary changes to ensure a safe and reliable service.”

He continued: “We apologise to customers for the disruption and have tried to keep the reductions in frequency to a minimum.

“If we have any other issues that occur each day then we will of course post them on our social media channels and ask our customers to keep track via Facebook and Twitter for updates. 

“We are doing everything in our power to recruit staff – including offering free training for people to obtain their PSV drivers licence. 

“We’d also like to thank all of the staff working overtime over the last few months whilst we work through these issues. We will of course resume to a full service as soon as we possibly can.”