One of the island’s largest taxi firms says it has seen demand surge by almost 40% as disruption continues during the ongoing bus drivers’ strike.

Elegance Taxis says bookings are currently around 38% higher than usual volumes, as passengers look for alternative ways to travel while Bus Vannin services remain affected by industrial action.

The strike entered its second phase after talks failed to resolve the long-running dispute between the Department of Infrastructure (DoI) and Unite the Union.

Bus services had only briefly returned to normal last Tuesday after drivers staged a 10-day walkout between February 22 and March 3.

However, with negotiations still unresolved, Unite confirmed a further 20 days of action.

The first of those began this weekend, with additional strike periods scheduled from March 13 to 17, March 20 to 24 and March 27 to 31, meaning further disruption is expected in the weeks ahead.

For Elegance Taxis, co-owner Stephen Rundle said the increase in demand has created both opportunities and challenges.

He said: ‘Looking at the most recent numbers, we are 38% up on our usual volumes.

‘Whilst this is great for business on one hand, it has a subsequent knock-on impact on drivers as we ask them to work extra hours outside of their normal shifts to help absorb the additional demand.

‘This has meant they have had to call in favours for school drop-offs, kept them away from typical family occasions and limited any of their usual social events… so we’re very fortunate and thankful for the extra support they have provided.’

Mr Rundle said the company has also brought in additional staff to help manage the surge in bookings.

‘We have chosen to bring in additional base operators to answer as many extra calls as possible (at a direct cost to the business), however from a customer point of view we believe it’s always better to have your call answered and not just ring out…even if it’s sadly to let you know we have no cars immediately available,’ he said.

Despite the disruption, he said customers have generally been understanding when delays occur.

‘Our customers have been very understanding of the situation which has helped massively. We just try to be as honest as possible and give a realistic time scale of when we will get a car to them.

‘We continue to keep them informed as best we can whether that be over the phone, via text updates or enabling them to track their vehicle on our app.’

The increased number of vehicles on the road has also had an impact on traffic during busy periods.

Mr Rundle added: ‘Certain periods and areas just congest more, they always have, so when you throw more cars on the road it just compounds the issue and therefore travel time is naturally impacted, even for the smaller journeys.’

Meanwhile, drivers involved in the dispute at Bus Vannin said last week there is currently ‘no end in sight’ to the strike action, with Unite accusing the DoI of failing to engage in meaningful negotiations.

The union says it has been ‘stonewalled’ by the department during the dispute, which centres on pay and proposed changes to terms and conditions.