The HSR is struggling to put enough buses on the road with an increasing number of drivers off work to deal with illness and stress.

The absenteeism rate among the city's 442 regular bus drivers is around 14 per cent, said HSR director David Dixon. That includes vacation days.

The "surprisingly high" number of missing operators — more than 60 on some days — is contributing to more buses being late or unable to hit the road at all in the last couple months. Statistics provided to The Spectator show HSR buses missed about 140 hours of scheduled service from Nov. 3 to 19, on about 80 routes.

"We're struggling in some cases to meet service. Not a lot, relative to our overall numbers, but even missing 30 minutes is not good and missing a whole peak (period) is worse," Dixon said, noting HSR buses operate about 2,500 scheduled hours per weekday.

The newly hired director said he's just begun to examine the reasons behind the scramble to fill driver's seats in the city's 221 buses but added "absenteeism would factor into that."

Transit union president Eric Tuck confirmed more drivers are off now than normal. He said he thought missed service has been more of a problem in the last two months. Tuck blamed a number of factors for the driver crunch, including seasonal illness, poor scheduling of on-call drivers and an overall need for more hires.

But, he added, more operators are also off work because of stress, and he doesn't think it's a coincidence service complaints and assaults on bus drivers are on the rise.

"It kind of snowballs, right? You have a (driver) shortage, and then you have more drivers working more hours to cover the gap, dealing with more upset passengers," said Tuck, who argued an increasing number of drivers are spending up to 60 hours a week on the bus.

"People are breaking. It's not just buses that break down."

The last year has been a tumultuous one for drivers and riders alike.

The HSR lost its two top managers in the midst of dealing with the fallout from employee complaints about a toxic workplace and sexual harassment.

The number of attacks on bus drivers — such as spitting, pushing and threats — has nearly doubled over last year to 37, while complaints about buses speeding by would-be passengers at stops are poised to top 200 for the second year in a row.

On the upside, the HSR was cheered for releasing real-time data this year that will make it easier for passengers to track buses by smartphone.

Dixon said he's recently responded to customer complaints about buses that didn't show up.

"We will improve," he said, but added some missed service is inevitable at any transit operation, whether due to absences, traffic collisions or vehicle breakdowns. Some incidents are also more serious than others.

The HSR recorded missed service due to a lack of drivers on 79 occasions earlier this month, but Dixon is more concerned about 14 of those incidents that lasted longer than three hours each.

The most commonly pulled buses, accounting for about 40 missed hours, were those providing "extra service" on routes that see a flood of secondary school students at certain times of the day. That bus service comes with a warning that it can be changed or cancelled without notice.

Buses were also missing in action frequently on the busy B-line, King Street and University routes, with other repeated problems on Barton and the A-line up the Mountain.

On the upside, the HSR didn't miss a single service hour between Nov. 12 and 16. In the worst case, the transit provider missed 30 hours of service on Nov. 11, including 13 hours alone on the University line.

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Dixon said he'll take a comprehensive look at workforce planning within the HSR, including scheduling issues, absenteeism and an expected wave of driver retirements.

The average number of sick days taken by city workers last year was close to 10, but half of municipal employees took only one or two days.

A breakdown of sick days for the HSR wasn't immediately available.