You may be late for school because your bus driver is sick
Due to Omicron and crumbling bus infrastructure, plan for an earlier bus this week.
If you are like me and use public transit to get to campus like a car-less peasant, make sure to get there a few busses early this week. An increasing amount of employees in our short-staffed transit system are off the job because of illness.
More than 100 BC Transit bus trips in Victoria have been cancelled over the weekend due to employees likely contracting Omicron. Affected busses to UVic include the 4, 7, 11, 14, 15, 21 and 26.
School is back in person tomorrow, with UVic and SFU being the only two major universities in Western Canada to prioritise in-person teaching over pandemic concerns.
As reported by CTV News, BC Transit public relations people did not specify whether BC transit employees were getting COVID-19. Instead, they are saying that “BC Transit is currently experiencing service challenges due to employee illness.”
So I can’t actually blame Omicron for this. But as far as I know, the only other epidemic in town is the opioid overdose epidemic. (Unfortunately, those numbers are also going up.)
Over 17,000 riders use the bus from the UVic bus loop every day, with up to 50 busses operating on campus at any given time. On snow days, UVic often makes its decision to close campus when busses stop running.
Will our barely functioning, virus-crippled bus infrastructure change UVic’s mind about the return to campus?
Of course not, silly.
You could also bike or carpool to school, but if you’re lazy or have no friends for either option to be feasible long-term solutions, just mask up and hope your bus arrives in time. Stay warm at the bus stops!
A PSA from CTVxBC Transit: BC Transit encourages riders to sign up to receive route-specific alerts via email, or to use NextRide or Transit App to check on service alerts.