With half of the Vitran work force laid off territorywide, public bus service has been reduced effective Thursday, May 11, until further notice. Meantime, government officials are talking with union representatives about worker concessions and analyzing a $600,000 public transit appropriation from the Legislature.
Public Works Commissioner Harold Thompson's advice to the public relying on bus service was to "properly plan daily trips well in advance in order to minimize problems resulting from the cutbacks."
According to a Government House press release announcing the reduced service, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull has directed his chief labor negotiator, Karen Andrews, "to continue discussions with labor representatives on the counter-proposal offered by the unions" on Monday "to avoid layoffs of Vitran employees."
Employees have offered to forgo sick-leave, holiday and overtime pay and to cut back to a four-day work week in order to save jobs.
At a daylong meeting at Government House on Wednesday, the release said, the decision was reached "to curtail Vitran operations while budget analysts reviewed the impact and availability of $600,000 appropriated from the Indirect Cost Fund intended to sustain bus service through Sept. 30."
The legislative appropriation is in a bill that reached Government House on Tuesday afternoon, according to the release.
"A preliminary review indicates that the funds appropriated are short of the requirement to continue Vitran operations until Sept. 30, 2000, at present levels," the release stated. It cited "a 50 percent reduction in ridership and increasing fuel and operating costs" as problems.
Elaborating on the drop in ridership, James O'Bryan, public relations assistant to the governor, told the Source there has been "a steady decline" over the last two years in Vitran ridership territorywide. What had been "seven or eight thousand a day is now down to three to five thousand," he said.
He attributed the drop to Vitran's own "lack of equipment" as well as "increased competition from taxi drivers and safari buses."
On St. Croix, four buses are now providing service with start times of approximately one hour apart. Service is still from 5:30 a.m. but ends at 8:30 p.m. instead of 9:30 p.m. There is no longer any Sunday service.
On St. Thomas, service has been reduced to five buses serving eight routes with a minimum wait of one hour or one-half hour, depending on route and time of day. The City-UVI and City-Subbase routes have been combined, and the Bordeaux route has been cut back to three runs daily instead of five. Service on the other five routes has also been curtailed.
Bus service still begins at 5:30 a.m. but now ends at 8:30 p.m. instead of 9:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday. There is no longer any Sunday service.
On St. John, two buses are now providing service, from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until 9:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. "Limited service" will be provided on Sunday.
Thompson said all federally mandated Americans with Disabilities Act transit service is continuing on all three islands.
The release also said Turnbull has asked the agencies involved to "expedite their analysis" of the unions' proposal and to see that the laid-off Vitran workers promptly receive any annual leave payments to which they are entitled.
