SPRINGFIELD — People are coming back to Peter Pan Bus Lines, with the Springfield-based carrier seeing 8,000 to 10,000 passengers a week compared with barely 1,000 a week during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Christopher M. Crean, vice president of safety and security, said the company has 150 employees back and 110 buses on the road. Those 110 buses are down from 200 or so in the pre-pandemic days.
Starting today, Peter Pan will bring back more dispatchers and bus-station employees, Crean said. These were workers who were not needed during the lockdown, which kept most folks from traveling.
But what isn’t changing, at least not now, is the federal mask mandate.
Every passenger and employee must wear a mask while riding on buses, while boarding, while leaving the bus and in bus stations, Crean said. The rule was imposed by the federal government in January and remains in place — unless something changes — until September.
“Our mandate hasn’t changed,” Crean said.
A sign on a bus window reminds passengers that Peter Pan bus company is keeping their mask rules in place. (Don Treeger / The Republican) 5/20/2021
The rule, imposed through the Transportation Security Administration, applies not just to intercity buses like Peter Pan, but also to intracity buses like the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, airlines, passenger rail operators like Amtrak and the MBTA and, locally, CTrail’s Hartford Line.
This gets confusing as statewide mask orders loosen in light of rising vaccinations and declining COVID-19 cases.
Gov. Charlie Baker has said new rules for Massachusetts residents will be out May 29, ones closely following U.S. Centers for Disease Control guidelines urging all unvaccinated residents to wear face coverings in most indoor settings.
Malls have loosened mask guidance. Thornes Marketplace in Northampton won’t require masks after May 29.
But the mask rules remain on buses, trains and planes.
“It is confusing,” Crean said. “We do get complaints from other passengers. We do the best we can to remind people.”
He said some riders complain after seeing a maskless passenger, or a passenger who drops the mask down under the nose, where it is ineffective at stopping the spread of germs.
Peter Pan sees busier weeks ahead, with economies opening up and the Memorial Day travel season. Peter Pan runs routes to Cape Cod and other beach destinations.
Springfield’s Union Station is getting busier. Management there said Thursday the carriers — Peter Pan, PVTA and the railroads, Amtrak and CTrail — collectively reported 127,500 arrivals and departures in April. That’s the busiest month since October 2020, which was a brief reprieve before a Thanksgiving virus spike brought more restrictions. January saw 111,000 arrivals and departures, February a low of 98,000 and March a rebound of 120,000. May numbers are not yet available.
PVTA said Thursday its ridership continues to recover. April ridership across the system was 380,000, 72% higher than COVID-ravaged April 2020, but 63% below April 2019′s number. March and April ridership was the highest since the start of the pandemic, said spokeswoman Brandy Pelletier.
The PVTA routes that are recovering more slowly are the ones associated with the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The Ware-Palmer Route has the highest recovery rate, 92% of pre-pandemic levels.
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