Bus drivers are being offered more pay to go on to new contracts to bolster the number available for Sunday services.

Currently, no Bus Vannin driver is obliged to work on a Sunday.

But new drivers joining Isle of Man Transport in the future will work on an any five days out of seven basis so that they can be rostered to work on Sundays.

Drivers who are working on the existing new terms will be offered a pay increase of £1 an hour to move to the revised arrangements.

Those on old terms will be offered the same rate of pay but with a lump sum. In both cases the decision is entirely optional.

A spokesman for the Department of Infrastructure said: ’Sunday services are increasingly important to our passengers and we require 39 drivers to work on a Sunday to deliver the timetable. Issues such as maximum driving times are unchanged.’

The spokesman said that while Treasury had increased pay budgets across government by 2%, in the case of public transport budgets this was offset against a reduction in funding of £330,000 as part of the SAVE initiative.

The result was that driving staff could only be offered a lump sum of £50 unless efficiency savings could be secured, as with the new contract option, he said.

’A key finding of the SAVE report was that the historic contractual arrangements were unaffordable,’ the spokesman said.

During one weekend in September last year, unforeseen staff shortages resulted to disruption to bus services. Some Saturday services to Ramsey, Peel and the south were cancelled.

The staff shortage was exacerbated by drivers attending a retirement party but was also linked to ongoing talks over pay. There are 46 drivers at Bus Vannin who are on old terms and conditions. The other 52 are on the new terms imposed in October 2012 under which they are all paid the same flat hourly rate, irrespective of hours worked.

There are also 65 casual drivers on zero hours contracts.

Bus drivers on old terms get a salary of about £28,000 but may expect to increase this to £36,000 by working weekends and public holidays at a higher hourly rate.

Weekends

Staff on new terms with at least 12 months’ experience are paid £12.51 an hour for work on any day of the week while those on old terms staff get £14.13 an hour on weekdays and £20.03 an hour at weekends.

Some Saturday and all Sunday shifts are optional for drivers on both old and new terms as they work to the same working agreement.

Drivers of dial-a-ride minibuses are on zero hours contracts, working flexible shifts with an hourly rate, which works out at about £20,000 a year on a 37-hour week.

Bus drivers on the old terms were last year offered a £25,000 lump sum to go onto a new contract but only a handful agreed to do so.

A bus and rail action plan arising from the SAVE programme has seen a £333,000 a year cut in government subsidy for transport from this financial year.

A consultants’ review found salary costs at Bus Vannin are high compared to other bus operators. It identified savings in crew schedules, staff terms and conditions and by prioritising routes.

DoI chief executive Nick Black, a trained bus driver, provides cover when needed at weekends but doesn’t claim any extra pay.