With shorthanded staffing, Holcomb said the transit district was “doing the best we can” to provide service Thursday.

GBT pulled back from the less-traveled suburban routes to concentrate on core routes that run along Route 1, Main Street, Park Avenue and Madison Avenue. “It’s somewhat similar to the schedule that we might have in a hurricane or a snowstorm,” Holcomb said. GBT also offered a website apology to riders. “We are sorry for the major delays in service today,” the website Friday message said. “Unfortunately, we have experienced an extraordinarily high number of drivers unable to report to work today because of illness.”Īt the bus terminal on Water Street, about 80 people could be seen at mid-morning, waiting for buses. The crowd was larger earlier in the morning, but many may have given up or found some other way to their destinations.

Some riders waiting at the terminal were sympathetic to the drivers. Some of the longest running high school football rivalries in the country are right here in Connecticut, many of which are played on Thanksgiving. “They don’t get a decent lunch break or anything.” “They need to give them more money,” said nurse’s aide Lulu Jacobs, who said she was waiting for more than an hour for the No. “They barely have a chance to go to the bathroom - and then they have to deal with some difficult people,” she said.Ĭlaudia Stegman said she was was hoping to catch the No. 8 bus, which travels up and down Main Street, for a dentist appointment. “Usually, there’s (a bus) every 10 or 15 minutes, but not today.” “I’ve been here for an hour and 40 minutes,” she said.

Particularly hard-hit were students trying to attend their first day of school. “Many students were stranded in the rain this afternoon.” “The students were compelled to use GBT since the Board of Ed changed from providing school buses to giving students a GBT bus pass,” said Gene Holmes, assistant principal at Kolbe Cathedral High School. The timing of the sick days did not sit well with Holmes. “This was a shameful play on the part of bus drivers to call a sick out on the first day of school.” “I went to the bus terminal this morning to greet and assist our students on their first day, only to hear that there was a work stoppage,” he said. Holcomb said a more normal work day is expected Friday.īut, he added, “We’ll have a plan in place to provide service (Friday) if it happens again. #Gbt bus 15 schedule driversĪnd, I’d like to say that our drivers are doing an exemplary job in dealing with this situation, and we’d like to thank the riders for their Attanasio contributed to this story.But, he said that other parts of Stratford will get improved service. There will be a new route - 16 - that will shuttle riders between the Stratford railroad station and the Trumbull Corporate Park.