Angry HSR riders are reporting no-show buses in droves across Hamilton as the city scrambles to deal with an unprecedented spike in driver absenteeism.

Public works head Dan McKinnon confirmed an "extraordinary rate" of drivers calling in sick or otherwise unable to work — about 18 per cent — has translated into 1,400 hours of cancelled bus service in October.

Bus drivers and their union, meanwhile, say the service has sometimes been forced to cancel 10 to 15 buses a day. And occasionally, more.

"We're working with the union to try to figure out if there are other alternatives to get that service out on the road, but right now we're really struggling to do that," said McKinnon, who added transit managers are preparing a more detailed analysis and action plan to present to city councillors Wednesday.

"We're letting our customers down and that is just killing us."

Eric Tuck, president of ATU Local 107, confirmed more drivers are calling in sick or are taking stress leave. He added the city has asked the union to temporarily allow individual bus drivers to work up to 68 hours a week — 24 hours of overtime — under an emergency provision in the collective agreement. The union executive will discuss the request early next week.

But Tuck placed the blame for the missing buses squarely on the HSR brass, suggesting management changes have spurred "unrest," burnout and even early driver retirements.

"This is the result of poor working conditions. People are getting burned out. … Morale is low, people are frustrated," said Tuck, who suggested a majority of veteran drivers are working between 50 and 60 hours a week already.

"And people who could theoretically work more overtime are saying, no, screw it."

The city hired a new transit director, Debbie Dalle Vedove, late last year after the surprise departure of her predecessor, Dave Dixon. Popular second-in-command Murray Hill was let go this spring.

Tuck said his 450-plus drivers feel "beaten down" by inflexible scheduling decisions, a perceived "hard-line" effort to crack down on overtime and the city's 2017 budget decision to put off funding and service improvements originally promised under Hamilton's 10-year transit plan.

Dalle Vedove was off work and not available for an interview Friday.

But McKinnon sent an update memo to councillors explaining HSR management has been striving to "enhance the customer focus of our transit service" and take "a more diligent approach to things like attendance management" to try to cut down on chronic overtime issues.

(A recent five-year review of HSR spending showed overtime costs due to absenteeism have doubled since 2012.)

But McKinnon conceded the service is increasingly unable of late to find enough drivers to staff its buses, forcing the HSR to "strategically" cancel buses. That means avoiding cancellations on the busiest routes, first or last buses, or two buses in a row.

But several frustrated riders have recently taken to Twitter to complain about missing buses on consecutive days.

Brennan Benoit started tweeting and emailing complaints to the city last week after missing buses on the Barton route. He has also noted missing service on the Sanatorium and Mohawk routes over the last few weeks.

"It has definitely gotten worse since the summer," said the daily Barton route commuter, who also tracks HSR bus locations in real time using transit55.ca.

"I've been sending emails to the HSR, but they're, um, strongly worded to show my feelings, so sometimes I don't get a response."

McKinnon also said Friday the upwards trend in absenteeism has actually been a concern for about six months. That concern comes atop a predicted $2.5-million budget shortfall for 2017, including another year of anticipated ridership declines.

In recent weeks the number of complaints directed at councillors has been "unprecedented," said Coun. Sam Merulla. "It's not just buses that are late. It's buses that aren't showing up."

Other councillors, including Chad Collins and Jason Farr, have also noted a spike in complaints by email, phone and on social media.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

"I've never seen this kind of influx," said Farr, the downtown councillor.

Collins noted the city has battled absenteeism problems in various departments over the years — including a similar, if less severe, HSR spike in 2014. In that year, then-HSR director Dixon reported a 14 per cent rate of drivers calling in sick or unable to work.

"It's not a new problem, but this level of service disruption is unacceptable," Collins said.