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Transit Agencies Across the Country are Working to Combat COVID-19

Transit Agencies Across the Country are working to increase their capacity to clean and sanitize their fleets and high-touch areas more frequently during the COVID-19 outbreak. Several agencies have hired and deployed extra cleaning teams, using government-approved disinfecting products.  While all transit agencies are cleaning daily, several agencies have upgraded their protocols to include mid-day cleanings and sanitizing high-touch areas in stations and vehicles every four hours.  Few agencies have decreased service, while others have increased the number of vehicles in their deployed fleets to accommodate social distancing by reducing the passenger count on each vehicle.

As always, if you feel ill, please stay home and follow all CDC guidelines around preventing the spread of illness including frequent handwashing.  Transit agencies understand the critical role public transportation provides for their regions and is continues to expand their public service efforts to help safeguard against the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

New York

  • Continuing to operate as usual
    • Some routes reduced around school closings
  • Encouraging riders to stay home if possible
  • Disinfecting stations and high-touch surfaces twice a day
  • Cleaners are working to disinfect trains, cars, and buses every day, with the entire active service fleet being covered every 72 hours
  • Access-A-Ride vehicles are disinfected every day
  • Using CDC-endorsed cleaning products
  • Increasing stockpile of hygienic supplies

Los Angeles

  • Continuing to operate as usual
  • Strengthened cleaning at Union Station and major transit hubs
    • includes an elevated focus on cleaning high touch point areas such as handrails, elevator call buttons, and ticket vending machines
    • continues to clean buses and trains at least once daily with EPA-approved disinfectants
  • Formed a Contagious Virus Response Task Force that is coordinating with the L.A. County Department of Public Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Chicago

  • Continuing to operate as usual
  • Increased cleaning routines at stations and on vehicles
    • METRA
      • Metra will continue to clean train cars regularly with disinfectants. It has told cleaning crews to pay special attention to high-touch areas, like handrails, armrests and doors.
      • Metra will bring in extra crews on the weekends to do additional cleaning and disinfecting of cars and locomotives.
      • Metra-maintained stations will be cleaned multiple times a week, paying special attention to high-touch surfaces.  It is asking the municipalities or other entities that maintain stations to do the same.
      • It will bring in extra crews to increase the cleaning and disinfecting of downtown stations.
    • CTA
      • Buses and trains receive daily cleanings, which includes disinfecting surfaces.  More concentrated spot cleanings are done as needed. They also undergo deep cleans, which entail intensive cleanings of the interior surfaces and exterior periodically.
      • Rail stations are cleaned throughout the day, including disinfecting surfaces, like handles, handrails, Ventra machines and turnstiles.
    • PACE
      • As a standard practice, Pace cleans and sanitizes buses nightly. Out of an abundance of caution, it has added an extra disinfecting step to that cleaning regimen.

Philadelphia

  • Closed customer service offices
    • Offering credits for unused and partially used passes
    • Operating the SEPTA Severe Weather Plan for Regional Rail
    • Closed the SEPTA Key Senior & Reduced Fare Card processing programs until further notice
  • Established dedicated teams to focus on sterilizing high touch areas at stations and on vehicles
    • Stations team will be out at least 3 to 4 times a day

Dallas-Fort Worth

    • Continuing to operate as usual
    • Aggressively expanded agency-wide cleaning and safety protocols
      • Additional cleanings throughout the day
      • Focus on high-touch areas
      • Using an EPA approved cleaning solution
    • Encouraging riders to report unhygienic surface needs through the DART Say Something App

San Francisco

  • Service reduction:
    • Closed RTC Discount ID Office
    • Muni bus service will be temporarily reduced
    • SF Paratransit Office will operate with limited capacity during regular business hours
  • Aggressively expanded agency-wide cleaning protocols
    • High-touch surfaces such as railings in Muni subway stations are cleaned approximately every four hours

Washington, D.C.

  • Service reduction – allows for additional disinfecting of railcars and buses, including the use of electrostatic fogging on a weekly basis.
  • Rail system will close at 11PM daily until further notice
  • Buses may bypass stops if vehicle is too full
  • Public urged to use Metro for essential trips only
  • All subscription trips are cancelled until further notice (MetroAccess)
  • Increased on-hand warehouse inventory of essential supplies, such as hospital-grade disinfectant, wipes, face masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, and other items

Houston

  • More buses will be put in service on heavily traveled local routes in order to lessen crowding
  • Approximately 50 percent fewer seats will be available on buses
  • Increased cleaning routines at stations and on vehicles
    • Putting an even greater emphasis on disinfecting surfaces frequently touched by the public during our daily bus and rail cleaning

Boston

  • Reduced service
    • Commuter rail – reduced service on all lines
    • Ferry – no service
    • Subway and bus lines – Saturday service has been modified
    • Three bus lines have modified weekday service
  • Aggressively expanded agency-wide cleaning protocols
    • Fleet vehicles are being disinfected on a daily basis
    • High-contact areas at subway stations are being cleaned every 4 hours
    • Hand sanitizing dispensers, disinfectant wipes, and cleaning sprays will be deployed at facilities and stations throughout the system

Atlanta

  • Continuing to operate as usual
  • Increased cleaning routines at stations and on vehicles
    • Daily fleet cleaning
    • Additional mid-day end of line cleaning for buses while parked in bus bays at targeted rail stations

Tampa-St. Petersburg

  • In order to reduce crowding and bunching, all transit services in Pinellas County are free
  • Customers are encouraged to use the back door of the bus to enter and exit
  • Cleaning crews have tripled their cleaning efforts to thoroughly disinfect all transit vehicles, terminals, and facilities daily with high-grade sanitizers and multi-purpose cleaners

Seattle-Tacoma

  • Numerous service changes
    • Under the Reduced Schedule, most Metro routes will see fewer trips and/or reduced hours of operation. Some routes will not operate, primarily during commute times and when options on other routes exist.
    • The following services and programs will not operate during Reduced Schedule (which goes into effect on Monday, March 23):
      • Community Ride
      • Via to Transit
    • Access paratransit program will continue normal operations and will continue to follow its enhanced daily sanitization procedures.
    • Water Taxi and its two shuttles, routes 773 and 775, will continue to operate on their winter schedule through at least April 20, 2020.
    • Seattle Streetcar will operate on a reduced schedule starting on Monday, March 23.
    • Community Van trips for essential needs such as foodbank runs will continue as long as it is feasible and there are volunteer drivers available and willing to drive
  • Temporarily fare free
  • Updated cleaning protocols
    • Metro crews are now cleaning every bus every night (formally monthly) using 21 newly acquired backpack sprayers
    • Metro will utilize its current staff of 200 equipment and utility service workers to carry out the increased cleaning and sanitations measures