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    1. Safety & Security

    SFMTA employee vaccination update

    Oct. 6, 2021
    As of Sept. 30, SFMTA says it had 640 employees who were either unvaccinated or had not reported their vaccination status, which represents 11 percent of the SFMTA workforce.
    Related To: San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA)
    SFMTA
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    The city of San Francisco Department of Human Resources instituted a policy that all city employees need to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 1. 

    The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) says it 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, SFMTA has been educating its 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, SFMTA says it had 640 employees who were either unvaccinated or had not reported their vaccination status, which represents 11 percent of the SFMTA workforce. 

    If several hundred 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 SFMTA plans to train and hire between June 2021 and December 2022. If this number is not significantly improved, SFMTA says it will be forced to reduce service back to May 2021 levels. 

    Impact on parking control: If SFMTA 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 the Chase Stadium detail.  

    SFMTA says it does not want any of its 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 possible. The agency notes it has multiple teams working across the agency to improve this situation over the course of the next month, but as it hopes and work for a better outcome, SFMTA is simultaneously planning for the worst. 

    The agency says it has begun continuity of operations planning based on pre-built scenarios, and will inform the board in more detail at Wednesday's meeting.