
COVID-related illness forces daily cancellation of some GO train and bus service
CBC
Commuters and travellers who use GO trains and buses to and from Waterloo region should check their schedules daily as staff shortages may force some trips to be cancelled.
Metrolinx says some bus and train trips will be cancelled this week because of COVID-19 illness that started slowly over the holidays and now impacts roughly 30 percent of 5,000 staff.
Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins told CBC News that illness is "whipping through this organization so fast, just like other organizations."
"As the holidays wrapped up, our absenteeism rate just skyrocketed throughout our entire organization. And every day it changes," said Aikins.
"Fortunately, the illness level is manageable. Many people are experiencing no symptoms. Others are experiencing fairly mild symptoms that they're managing at home. So that's the good news."
Aikins says every day, managers are constantly updating their staffing schedules, and they will know which bus and train routes will be affected by early every morning.
"What we're going to do is reduce the schedule to a manageable level, even with a lower staff complement so that the services can be more dependable," said Aikins.
"It's not just the bus driver behind that service that we're providing. It's the mechanics. It's the transit safety officers. It's the the supervisors. It's all of the people that are needed in order to operate that bus. It's not just operators. It's the crews that operate the trains."
Aikins says ridership was low during the holidays. She expects that to continue as people will be working from home because of the Ontario government's new COVID-19 restrictions.