The Director of Saskatoon Transit says they are beginning to catch up on the backlog of repairs, which has been causing a shortage of buses on the road, leading to service issues. Jim McDonald says the challenges are finding the parts in a world-wide supply chain issue, an aging fleet with more mechanical issues, and the bouts of cold weather. He explains that in the extreme cold, the “check engine” light comes on in some of their buses, which means the buses have to go back to the shop to be checked over, before continuing on.

At its worst, McDonald says they were 24 buses short last Friday and on Wednesday they were seven buses short. McDonald expects it will stake a few days still to address the backlog of mechanical repairs, barring any unforeseen extreme cold spells. He advises Transit riders to check the service alerts posted to the Transit app and Google Maps Transit, and “pin” your regular routes in the Transit app to receive push notifications about service disruptions.

Some of Saskatoon Transit’s solutions to getting more buses on the road:

-Buses are being sent to third party garages to add to maintenance resources.
-Buses with long term defects or parts that are not available or delayed are being used to fix other buses.
-Check Engine Light calls are being investigated and sent back on the road more quickly.
-Issues that do not involve Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning, brakes or steering are quickly checked and sent back on the road if it is safe to do so. HVAC, brakes and steering issues that need repair are booked for a mechanic as soon as possible, however fixing the issue is contingent on parts availability.
-Working with nearby Transit properties to determine what parts can be accessed from them. Transit has also been working with parts distributors to get as many parts as possible.
-To ensure more parts are on-hand, maximum/minimum stock levels have been changed for high-demand parts or for parts that take longer to obtain.
-Maintenance staff have been working overtime.