This winter has been a struggle for Saskatoon Transit. Jim McDonald, Director of Saskatoon Transit told City Council Monday afternoon that the City is seeing supply issues that weren’t seen a year ago.

Supply chain issues and the COVID-19 pandemic are making it difficult for the City to acquire certain parts. McDonald says the City’s fleet isn’t getting any younger and other cities across North America are also experiencing similar issues.

“We’re working with supply chain management on opportunities to procure better lists of private sector mechanical service providers that we can use within the City of Saskatoon. So there are other shops available that have garages that will be able to take 40-foot buses and we are continuing to work with supply chain management to make sure that we have the right mix that can take some of the additional work necessary when we have to ship buses to different locations.”

The director of transit says they’re also evaluating their mechanics’ schedules to ensure they’re providing a sufficient number of buses on the roads for the morning commute.

Councillor Bev Dubois asked why the City didn’t take proactive steps to avoid such a situation, given the City was aware it had a number of buses requiring service last summer. McDonald says they ensure larger work is done in the summer so that the fleet is ready to support service from September to spring time when ridership is at its highest.

A full list of affected and canceled routes can be found by clicking on the link below.

Transit Service Alerts | Transit.Saskatoon.ca