As San Francisco sees its highest-ever COVID-19 case rates because of the omicron surge, dozens of Muni drivers are out sick.
If your bus is running late it may be another thing you can blame on the pandemic. San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency director of transit, Julie Kirschbaum, said staff shortages are causing delays.
"We're canceling routes or changing schedules, but the SFMTA was having staffing constraints prior to the omicron variant and the variant is stretching our ability to deliver service," she explained during a press conference.
Kirschbaum said they're monitoring staffing daily and will alert the public if routes do have to be canceled. City workers are required to be vaccinated, but they also have to stay home for at least five days if they get a breakthrough case.
"We had 68 staff members let us know that they have COVID last week," she said. "Of those, 28 of them were operators."
In addition, she said a significant number of operators are out because they had a close contact or are taking care of family members.
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