Employee Vaccination Update
Oct. 19, 2021
Two weeks ago, we shared an update about possible impacts to Muni and other SFMTA services due to the City and County of San Francisco’s vaccine mandate. While we are encouraged that the number of SFMTA staff choosing to be vaccinated is increasing, we still expect there will be noticeable service disruptions beginning on Nov. 1.
We are very grateful to the thousands of SFMTA employees who got vaccinated against COVID-19 and are doing their part to protect the health and safety of each other and San Francisco residents. The SFMTA fully supports vaccination, as it has been proven to be the best tool we have to protect ourselves and the public against the dangers of COVID-19.
As of Oct. 18, 275 SFMTA employees -- excluding those on leave -- are either unvaccinated or haven’t reported their vaccination status. This is an important improvement from two weeks ago, but it’s still a significant number. If 275 of our employees are still unvaccinated or unreported as of November 1 and are put on leave or terminated, it will significantly impact transit operations and parking control in San Francisco.
We are deep into continuity of operations planning.
TRANSIT IMPACT: We are already missing a significant number of runs due to operator unavailability. This means unexpected gaps in service and lower-than-scheduled frequencies. We expect these disruptions will increase with the enforcement of the mandate on Nov. 1. It is also possible that the NextBus prediction system will see disruptions. We will update you with details as soon as we can be more definitive.
PARKING ENFORCEMENT: The loss of parking control officers on Nov.1 is expected to force the agency to partially suspend abandoned vehicle enforcement, booting, and commuter shuttle enforcement services and to reduce residential parking permit enforcement and meter enforcement. In a worst-case scenario, this could also impact disabled placard enforcement and reduce our Chase Stadium detail.
We absolutely do not want any of our employees to lose their jobs or their incomes and are going to keep working to support them in every way we can. We very much hope that this situation will improve over the course of the next month, but, as we hope and work for a better outcome, we are simultaneously planning for the worst.
For Muni service updates, please subscribe to Core Service Muni Alerts for your route or line. Visit our COVID-19 page and select the link for the route/s you use to subscribe. All Muni Alert subscribers will receive general as well as specific Muni service updates. You can also follow us on Twitter @sfmta_muni or on Facebook.
Oct. 5, 2021
As you may be aware, for the health and safety of City and County of San Francisco workers and the public, the city’s Department of Human Resources instituted a policy that all city employees need to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 1.
The SFMTA fully supports vaccination, as it has been proven to be the best tool to protect each other against the dangers of COVID-19. Since the vaccines received emergency approval at the end of 2020, we have been educating our employees about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, encouraging them to get vaccinated and providing them with opportunities to get vaccinated on work time.
Unfortunately, as of Sept. 30, we had 640 employees who were either unvaccinated or had not reported their vaccination status, which represents 11% of the SFMTA workforce.
If several hundred of our employees are still unvaccinated as of Nov. 1 and are terminated, it will significantly impact transit operations and parking control in San Francisco. Up to four schools could be without crossing guards and approximately eight schools could see a reduction in the number of crossing guards serving them.
Impact on transit operations: The number of unvaccinated transit operators is roughly equivalent to the total number of operators we plan to train and hire between June 2021 and December 2022. If this number is not significantly improved, we will be forced to reduce service back to May 2021 levels.
Impact on parking control: If we can’t reduce the number of unvaccinated parking control officers before Nov. 1, the agency will be forced to partially suspend abandoned vehicle enforcement, booting, and commuter shuttle enforcement as well as reduce residential parking permit enforcement and meter enforcement. It could also impact disabled placard enforcement and shrink our Chase Stadium detail.
We absolutely do not want any of our employees to lose their jobs or their incomes and are going to keep working to support them in complying with the mandate in every way we can. We have multiple teams working across the agency to improve this situation over the course of the next month, but as we hope and work for a better outcome we are simultaneously planning for the worst.
We have begun continuity of operations planning based on pre-built scenarios, and it is time for us to inform our city leaders and the public of how this situation may impact the daily lives of our city’s residents.
We will keep customers and the public updated and will report on this topic in more detail at our Board of Directors meeting today. You can tune in at 1 p.m. at SFGTV. For the latest, please follow us on Twitter @sfmta_muni or Facebook.