Covid-19 should not be blamed for last-minute bus service cancellations in Dunedin, a union says.
Dunedin Tramways Union branch president Alan Savell said it was wrong of the Otago Regional Council to imply bus services were being disrupted by the pandemic.
"There are certainly plenty of buses being cancelled," Mr Savell said.
"In fact, the number of cancellations in the past few weeks is unprecedented, but it is caused by low overall staff numbers and just the usual set of ailments that some bus drivers have had from time to time ever since buses were invented."
In a statement on March 11, the council said it had adopted a Covid-19 reduced timetable plan for Dunedin and Queenstown.
"This will ensure basic continuity of services during the ongoing Omicron outbreak and maintain reliability of both networks," the council said.
Mr Savell said the union was aware of just two drivers in the past three weeks who were off work because of Covid-19 or isolation requirements.
"The Tramways Union challenges the Otago Regional Council to reveal how many bus services have been cancelled in the past month and how many of these cancellations were actually caused by Covid 19."
The bus companies serving Dunedin — Ritchies and Go Bus Transport — have struggled to have enough healthy drivers covering all their timetabled routes.
Changes related to school pupils have also been problematic since Otago Road Services wound up passenger services last year.
Regular bus passenger Hayden Johnson, of Ocean Grove, said it was hard to have confidence in the Dunedin service.
"It’s just a mess," he said.
"No-one tells you anything.
"You just stand there and hope."
Mr Johnson said he worked in retail in Dunedin and he relied on public transport.
He had had to scramble to work around cancelled services about five times in the past three weeks, he said.
It seemed Covid-19 was being used as an excuse, Mr Johnson said.
Bus Users Support Group Otepoti has also raised concerns about cancelled services.
"In the longer term, the industry needs to be offering good enough pay and conditions to attract and retain sufficient drivers to cover the services we want to run," group co-president Alex King said.
Council transport manager Doug Rodgers has previously thanked operators for keeping the buses running.
They were doing their best to minimise disruption during a challenging time, he said.
