More than 100 BC Transit bus trips in Capital Region cancelled this weekend due to employee illness

A BC Transit bus on Douglas Street in Victoria on Sept. 1, 2021. (CTV News).

Dozens of BC Transit buses in Greater Victoria were cancelled on Saturday, and dozens more cancellations were expected on Sunday.

Alerts on the regional transit system's website indicated "service disruptions" on number 6, 7, 11, 14, 15, 21 and 50 bus routes on Saturday, with a total of 78 trips listed as cancelled across the seven routes.

As of 5 p.m. Saturday, 57 Sunday trips had already been cancelled across 10 different routes. The routes with disruptions scheduled for Sunday were numbers 4, 7, 11, 14, 15, 21, 26, 27, 28 and 50.

The alerts do not provide a reason for the cancellations, but a spokesperson for BC Transit confirmed to CTV News that they are due to "employee illness," as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly in the community.

"Like many other customer-facing organizations, BC Transit is currently experiencing service challenges due to employee illness," the spokesperson said in an email.

"These service challenges have resulted in the need to alter schedules on short notice and has led to the temporary suspension of some of this weekend’s scheduled service."

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.

"BC Transit sincerely apologizes to riders for any inconvenience caused by these cancellations," the spokesperson said.