Sick days and dropped bus and train routes are still plaguing the MBTA, according to new agency data that shows operators are calling out at a rate of two days for every 20 they’re supposed to be at work.

The new statistics show “unscheduled absences” among bus drivers and rail operators — which don’t include vacation time, holidays, comp time, personal days or parental leave — may be trending downward but are still alarmingly high.

MBTA Chief Administrator Brian Shortsleeve said that fact shows the agency’s new attendance policy is making a difference but “we have a lot of work to do.”

“Our unscheduled absenteeism rate has dropped from what was close to 13 percent back in fiscal ’15 to just over 10 percent in fiscal ’17, but that’s still a high number,” Shortsleeve told the Herald yesterday. “That still means that in a month in which an operator is scheduled for 20 days of work, they’re missing on average two of the 20 days — which is equivalent to missing every other Friday.”

Despite the staggering absenteeism rate among drivers, Shortsleeve described the latest data as a “positive trend that indicates the policy is working.”

“We’re going to continue to enforce the policy, we’re going to defend the policy,” Shortsleeve said, adding, “It’s critical that we create a culture where good attendance is valued.”

The data show average daily overtime expenses are down nearly 30 percent from last year and are running below where they were in 2013 and 2014.

In addition to a reduction in absenteeism among drivers, Shortsleeve said recent changes appear to have reined in the misuse of unpaid leave under the Family Medical Leave Act and sky-high overtime expenses.

FMLA certification among members of the Boston Carmen’s Union has dropped by 40 percent since the new attendance policy took effect nine months ago. But Shortsleeve pointed out that the nearly 26 percent of T employees with an active FMLA certification is far higher than comparable state agencies.

The Carmen’s Union, which filed a formal grievance against the attendance policy in June, blamed the agency’s high absenteeism rate on poor management.

“For months, since the first absentee report was released, we have said that poor policies and a lack of sufficient management were significant causes of high absentee numbers,” Union President James O’Brien said yesterday in a statement. “We have always agreed that these issues need to be addressed in order to improve service for our riders. The original data put forward by the MBTA was later proven false, it was nothing more than an effort to paint employees in a negative light.”

The data will be presented to the MBTA Fiscal Management Control Board tomorrow, according to T spokesman Joe Pesaturo.