If you are waiting for a bus from Keolis in north-west Overijssel, it can only happen that it does not come. And that is not because of technical problems with the electric buses, but because of a shortage of drivers. As a result, about three percent of all journeys will be canceled in the next two weeks.
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There are approximately eighty canceled trips per week – out of a total of almost 2600 trips in the IJssel-Vecht region, which consists of the northwestern part of Overijssel and the Veluwe.
It is the accumulation of holidays and a higher absenteeism due to illness that causes headaches for the Keolis schedule makers. All the more so because it is by no means always possible to make up for lost services, as a result of a shortage on the labor market. There are simply not enough replacement drivers available.
Every trip that goes down is one too many. Fortunately, this does not happen every day and is temporary.
Office workers on the bus
The transport company pulls out all the stops to limit the loss of rides and to mitigate them where this is not possible. For example, Keolis deploys its own people more often – with authorized office staff also getting behind the wheel.
Where rides are canceled, this is done as much as possible on lines with a quarter-hourly service. “In that case, on a busy route, for example, a bus runs three times instead of four times an hour,” Keolis spokesperson Lotte Hendriksen writes in a response. Buses that pass through smaller villages once an hour are spared. This also applies to the student lines.
Schools open
In recent weeks, there have also been occasional dropouts, Keolis agrees. But back then, drivers’ holidays could be better accommodated. “By drivers of coach companies”, Hendriksen writes. “Now that the schools are open and they drive themselves again, we can use them less often.”
The ride outage is incidental and temporary, says Keolis. “Every ride that breaks down is one too many. Fortunately, this does not happen every day and it is temporary.”
Stuck buses
In addition to cancellations due to a shortage of drivers, the buses themselves also sometimes fail. Due to a software error, they sometimes go into a safety mode, so that the bus only travels at a maximum of thirty kilometers per hour. This has happened several times on the highway, and it still happened on a bus today.
Because all buses have to go to the garage one by one for an update, it will take a few weeks before those problems are resolved.
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