SEPTA’s already stubborn delays on bus routes were made worse Monday because so many drivers called out for the day after the Super Bowl.
Just before 9 a.m., SEPTA reported that 70 of its 125 bus routes could have delays because of “operator unavailability.” The transit agency said that number grew throughout the day.
SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch said 132 drivers had called out to start the day.
“We’re over what we would normally have on a Monday,” Busch said. “This gets exacerbated by our overall shortages on staffing.”
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, SEPTA has struggled to maintain a full force of 2,700 drivers. January was a testament to that, as SEPTA was short 154 drivers.
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“We’re having difficulty making a huge dent into that number,” Busch explained. “We are getting those bigger training class sizes – 30 or so a month. That’s helping us at least keep up with the new vacancies that we have coming up.”
Busch couldn’t say whether the uptick in callouts had anything to do with the Super Bowl but did point out that absences over a full day topped 200 on four of the last five Mondays.
Busch says SEPTA has been posting information on Twitter and its website about routes that could see delays so riders know whether their bus route is among those affected.