STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Make sure you refill your MetroCard.
Front-door boarding and fare collection resumes on all MTA buses on Monday for the first time in over four months -- allowing up to 40% more space on buses for enhanced social distancing.
“As we prepare for Monday, we want customers and employees to know we are doing everything we can to keep them safe – from disinfecting our buses to mandating masks to installing protective barriers for our operators,” said Sarah Feinberg, interim president of New York City Transit. “We honor and respect our heroic frontline employees for everything they continue to do for our city.”
Since March 23, in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, local bus riders have been required to board through the rear door. Given the inaccessibility of the fare box in the rear-door boarding scenario, New Yorkers have been enjoying a free ride on MTA local buses in recent months. However, with front-door boarding set to resume, passengers will again be expected to pay their fare.
Express bus riders, who continued to enter through the front door, have been expected to pay their fare throughout the length of the pandemic.
New safety measures
Innovative new barriers, including polycarbonate sliders and vinyl curtains, are being installed on buses to fully protect bus operators and allow more distance between the operator and customers. The MTA continues to equip its more than 5,800 buses with these protective barriers.
Buses may have temporary barriers in place while permanent solutions continue to be implemented.
The MTA is enhancing employee safety by moving back the white line on the bus floor, behind which riders are expected to stand -- providing more social distancing for the operator.
And the aggressive cleaning and disinfecting regimen will continue. To date, buses have been cleaned and disinfected 490,000 times.
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Craig Cipriano, president of MTA Bus Company and senior vice president of NYC Transit’s Department of Buses, said the MTA is working tirelessly to implement these new features across all buses to keep operators and customers safe.
“As customers take advantage of the increased social distancing on buses they should make sure to stand behind the white line to respect our operators and wear a mask,” he said. “Our incredible workforce has been working day in and day out to retrofit our buses. As more customers ride our buses, we remind them they must pay the fare and we welcome them in joining us as we thank all of our heroic employees who move this city.”
As ridership increases, riders can use the MTA’s new capacity tracking feature on the MYmta app to track in real-time how many passengers are on each bus. This tool allows customers to carefully plan their trip and maximize social distancing, with 40% of the bus fleet already activated with the tracking tool.
Face masks are required
MTA Bridge and Tunnel Officers and EAGLE teams, a fare evasion task force, are being deployed throughout the bus system to help remind customers they must pay the fare and are required to wear a face mask while on public transit.
Wearing a mask on public transit has been required by law since April 17.
The MTA equipped 360 buses on 15 routes across the city with mask dispensers -- allowing customers to pull a surgical mask from the dispenser onboard the bus if they forgot or lost their mask. Each dispenser holds about 50 masks and is refilled daily.
Currently, the dispensers are installed on the S53 local route on Staten Island, the Bx12 SBS and Bx41 SBS routes in the Bronx and the X63, X64 and X68 express routes in Queens. The mask dispensers are located near the rear door on local and SBS buses, but can be found near the front door on all express buses.
Distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) continues for employees across agencies. To date, the MTA has distributed 6.7 million masks, 8.7 million pairs of gloves, 59,000 gallons of hand sanitizer, 6.3 million individual sanitizing cleaning wipes, 160,000 gallons of cleaning solutions and 12,000 face shields.
The MTA is also launching an aggressive customer communications campaign to raise awareness of the resumption of front-door boarding.
The multichannel campaign includes new signage that will be posted across the entire bus fleet to remind customers to pay the fare, board through the front door of the bus, and stand behind the relocated white line to increase social distancing from the bus operator.
The signage will also be posted at the 50 busiest bus stops across the five boroughs. Once customers are on-board, an announcement will play detailing new measures.
MTA facing economic crisis
The suspension of front-door boarding and bus fare collection on local buses were part of the coronavirus-related restrictions that have contributed to the MTA’s declining economic forecast, with the agency claiming to have missed out on upward of $159 million in unpaid fares in recent months.
The agency is asking the U.S. Senate to act quickly to authorize $12 billion in MTA emergency relief funding to cover operations for 2020 and 2021.
“We are resuming fare collection at a time when we are facing the worst financial crisis in MTA history and we need the federal government to step up and deliver $12 billion in urgently needed funding now,” said Feinberg.
In absence of federal action, the MTA detailed potential options the agency would need to take, such as: workforce cuts of up to 8,400 jobs; an up to 40% reduction in service across subways, buses and the Staten Island Railway; an up to 50% reduction in service across commuter railroads, and fare and toll increases above the 4% planned in 2021 and 2023.
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