Stagecoach had to cancel another 57 scheduled bus departures serving Perth on Monday as the driver shortage continued.
The Perth -based transport giant says it is training new drivers but it will be some time before it can run its services in and around Perth as normal.
Last week the PA reported that Stagecoach had to drop 39 Perth-related departures all together on Tuesday, September 20.
But this past Monday, that record of 39 scrubbed in a single day was driven over, as even more departures - 18 of the #1 to Letham and 17 of the #2 to Tulloch, six of the #9 to and from North Muirton - were missing from the schedule and 16 buses serving destinations outside Perth were not running either.
At 10pm on Sunday, Stagecoach East Scotland tweeted a notification to travellers, informing them that there were multiple bus departures on Monday 26 that would not go ahead.
Later on Monday the 10.05am X7 service connecting Perth to Arbroath was first delayed, then not going at all due to a technical issue.
Giving less than an hour's notice to passengers, Stagecoach tweeted at 11.39am that the X7 Perth to Aberdeen due to be departing at 12.05pm would now leave 20 minutes later, but not from Perth City at Mill Street but out at Glendoick Turning Circle.
Then two lunchtime #2 departures from Perth to Tulloch were taken off followed by the 6.35pm 16B from Perth to Dundee and the return from Dundee to the Fair City at 8.10pm.
In all there were 57 buses, mainly on routes to the Perth residential areas of Letham, Tulloch and North Muirton that did not run on Monday, September 26.
A spokesperson for Stagecoach East Scotland said: “We are sorry for the impact that journey cancellations are having on some of our customers in Perthshire.
“Where services are impacted, we will let people know through our website and Twitter (@StagecoachEScot) with as much notice as possible.
“We are actively hiring for trainee and qualified bus drivers, and currently have 25 new drivers at varying stages of the training process.”
The seeming regularity of the cancellations over recent weeks has angered local politicians.
Perth City South Lib Dem Councillor Liz Barrett said: “People can’t get to work on time, seriously affecting those desperately in need of all they can earn right now.
“Elderly residents are missing medical appointments, causing distress and worry. I raised this weeks ago after a deluge of complaints and we were advised that the situation would improve after the school holidays, but it isn’t happening.
“I’ve heard of passengers waiting up to two hours for a bus that doesn’t come. This is just not good enough.”
Councillor for North Perth with Scottish Labour, Brian Leishman commented: “The cancellation of Stagecoach services all over Perth and Kinross is an all too common an occurrence.
“I hear the frustrations from residents in Perth City North when cancellations are at short notice and this negatively impacts working people, families and people that are trying to be environmentally conscious.
“There needs to be more responsibility shown by private companies, more accountability to their customers and it is fair to say that people in Perth and Kinross are being short changed and are not receiving the service from Stagecoach that they should be.”
SNP councillor for Perth City Centre Andrew Parrott said: “I am greatly frustrated by the continuing disruption caused to bus travellers lives by the cancellation of services sometimes at very short notice.
“I also understand that Stagecoach is doing as much as it can to train replacement drivers but the notice that a bus driver has to give on leaving is very short compared with the length of time it takes to train a replacement.
“Most of the cancellations are taking place on commercially operated services. Where a council subsidised service is cancelled the council are seeking to recover the value of the subsidy provided for operating that service.”
