Buses in St David’s are being axed without warning whenever a driver phones in sick.This is said to be a growing problem with angry passengers hanging around for hours on end never knowing if and when a bus will turn up.Residents have complained they play a “hit and miss” waiting game, as there are “huge holes” in the daily scheduled service.They have accused the Department of Transport of taking its budget cuts out on taxpayers. Its budget has been reduced by $1.3 million, down seven percent from last year.An overtime ban has been put in place which means when drivers on the St David’s route call in sick, no other workers are available to replace them.Also when drivers on other routes can’t make it to work, St David’s drivers can sometimes be called upon to fill in the gaps depending on the day and time.Residents claim the problem has got so bad that bus drivers now see route six from St George’s to St David’s as nothing more than “an overtime route”.Minister of Transport Terry Lister admits St David’s residents do bear the brunt of driver shortages but he says it is only because it is one of Bermuda’s “most underused” routes.A St David’s resident, who did not want to be named, said it was “a bigger problem than ever before” with more people now living in St David’s.She said seniors and mums with young children were worst affected. She said: “They are cutting certain buses without even telling us about it. It’s hit and miss for us as they just pull some buses completely.“This route is not an overtime service, it’s a regular scheduled service on the bus timetable.“We fought long and hard to get a bus service in St David’s and the routes are well used. But now we just don’t know what we are going to get, each day is different.“If you’re running a business you don’t close for the day when someone calls in sick. Government is meant to be offering a public service.”Two different bus routes serve St David’s, which are scheduled to run at quarter past the hour and quarter to the hour. Weekday and Saturday services have recently been reduced.The woman, who relies on the bus to get to and from work every day, said she had “lost count” of how many times she had been left waiting at Number One Gate because scheduled buses hadn’t showed up. Passengers are left waiting with no toilet facilities and little shelter from the rain.She said: “I have a bus pass but they are not honouring that bus pass. It really is terrible, we are paying taxes but they are taking the budget cuts out on us.“People get the bus to the supermarket then discover they can’t get home. I’ve seen people walking home while pushing their shopping in trolleys.“We know they are trying to do more with less, we’ve heard it all before, but that doesn’t help us when we’re waiting at the bus stop.”Senator Suzann Roberts Holshouser, who is a former St David’s MP, is calling on Government to rethink the current situation. She said: “If someone is off sick, there is no replacement driver available. It’s just not acceptable as it leaves residents, including our kids, waiting at the bus stop.“People in St David’s have a long walk or hike home if a bus doesn’t show up. They rely on a bus service, they are dependent on Government.“I would like to see this problem addressed, the Department of Transport needs to come up with a more effective solution before the new bus schedule is published.”Mrs Roberts Holshouser also voiced concerns that anger among bus drivers could prompt a sick-out which would negatively affect bus routes across the Island.She said: “The implications of this are huge, it could become a problem Island-wide.“It would also be a huge concern for tourists who rely on public transport.”Mr Lister said it was “very true” that the St David’s bus route was disrupted when drivers phoned in sick, but he couldn’t say how often this happened.He said “things change day-by-day” with bus frequencies depending on the availability of drivers and needs of passengers.Mr Lister said: “We have to look at how much bus routes are used. Sometimes the St David’s route can go the whole trip with only one person on it.“We like every bus route to have an average of at least eight riders, that could mean there are four people on the bus in the morning and eight people in the evening.“This unfortunately means it is the St David’s route which suffers and we understand that is not what residents want to hear.”Mr Lister agreed residents should be kept better informed and the solution could be to ask radio stations to announce bus schedule changes every morning.He said: “It is a concern to us and we can and should do something more to keep the people informed.”