Omicron Surge Impact on Muni Routes and Schedules

Omicron Surge Impact on Muni Routes and Schedules
By Julie Kirschbaum

Photo of a bus operator wearing a mask

As has been reported widely in the media, the highly contagious Omicron variant has led to rapid and unprecedented spread of the COVID-19 virus in San Francisco. More than 100 SFMTA staff have contracted COVID since late last month. Combined with pre-existing staffing shortages, this has led to an increase in missed Muni service. We’re also experiencing staffing impacts in other job classifications, including mechanics, car cleaners and transit supervisors.

Currently, we are missing up to 15% of scheduled Muni service, which means that riders may need to wait longer than usual for their bus or train. Our hope is that this will be the extent of our impacts. However, the situation is fluid, and we are monitoring staffing levels on a daily basis.

As part of our contingency planning, we are preparing for what might happen if our overall staffing levels drop significantly or if a small, but vital group—such as our Transit Management Center or Power Control Center— is significantly impacted. Either of these situations could leave us with no choice but to make additional Muni service reductions such as cancelling routes or introducing bus substitutions for rail service.

We are doing our best to avoid this situation by communicating proactively with staff about masking and staying home if they have any symptoms and keeping some staff working vital functions at remote locations to limit exposure. We are grateful that nearly 100% of the SFMTA workforce is vaccinated, and we are encouraging boosters as an effective precaution. We are also doing hard work behind the scenes to prepare signage, operator instructions, and all the other materials we would need to implement changes as smoothly as possible — in the case these become necessary.

For the latest information on service changes, please visit our Core Service webpage. You can also find our latest updates by subscribing to Muni alerts or visiting our Twitter feed.

Published January 08, 2022 at 03:40AM
https://ift.tt/3G9cRbZ

Comments

Slow Streets Program to Help With Social Distancing

Slow Streets Program to Help With Social Distancing By With Muni service temporarily reduced during the COVID-19 health crisis, many San Francisco residents need to walk and take other modes of transportation to make essential trips. However, sometimes it is difficult to maintain 6’ of social distance on many sidewalks, park paths, and bikeways. This can be especially true when passing lines outside grocery stores and other essential services. Because of this, many pedestrians are choosing to walk in the street, exposing themselves to swiftly moving vehicle traffic. The SFMTA is implementing a new program, Slow Streets, to close some streets to through traffic and allow roadways to be used more as a shared space for foot and bicycle traffic. Throughout the city, corridors have been identified for Phase 1 Slow Streets. Beginning this week, some of these streets will be closed to through vehicle traffic to prioritize walking/biking and to provide more space for social distancing duri...

Weight Loss Success Stories: 6 People Share How They Shed Pounds with a High-Protein Diet

Weight Loss Success Stories: 6 People Share How They Shed Pounds with a High-Protein Diet Sarah: Sarah, a 32-year-old mother of two, struggled with her weight after having her second child. She decided to try a high-protein diet and was able to lose 30 pounds in just three months. She replaced her breakfast with a protein shake, ate a salad with grilled chicken for lunch, and had fish or chicken with vegetables for dinner. Mike: Mike, a 45-year-old man, had been overweight his entire life. He tried various diets, but none of them worked for him. He decided to give a high-protein diet a try and was able to lose 50 pounds in six months. He ate eggs, chicken, fish, and lean meats for most of his meals and limited his intake of carbohydrates and sugary foods. Emily: Emily, a 28-year-old woman, had been struggling with her weight since her teenage years. She tried many diets and weight loss programs, but nothing seemed to work for her. She decided to try a high-p...

By The Numbers: The SFMTA’s COVID-19 Response

By The Numbers: The SFMTA’s COVID-19 Response By Erica Kato The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about unforeseen c hanges to San Francisco’s transportation network. And the impact of the crisis will continue to be felt city-wide long beyond the end of the public health emergency. On March 13, 2020, when it became clear that San Francisco needed immediate adjustments to the transportation system, Director of Transportation Jeff Tumlin launched SFMTA’s Department Operations Center (DOC) team. Since then, the DOC has served as a centralized hub to ensure that we are minimizing health risks to employees and the public as we keep transportation running, both by coordinating internally within the agency and by collaborating closely with our city, state, and federal partners to deploy resources and information in the most effective way possible. San Francisco's response to the COVID-19 pandemic included implementing temporary emergency transit lanes Our COVID-19 response has chal...

BE HEALTHY

Search This Blog