You are reading

MTA: Passengers on Local Buses to Ride for Free as Part of Safety Precaution

Riders of the Q60, a local bus, will be able to ride for free (Photo: Adam Moreira wikicommons)

March 23, 2020 By Michael Dorgan

Finally some good news for New York straphangers – MTA bus trips will now be free while New York fights the coronavirus pandemic.

The MTA has announced that it has suspended fare collection on all of its local and select bus routes in order to keep its drivers safe from coronavirus. From this morning, riders of these buses no longer have to pay and are being told to board and exit buses from the rear-door to minimize risk to drivers.

The MTA is keeping its bus drivers at a distance from passengers.

“The area around the bus operator will be roped off to minimize contact, in accordance with the direction of Governor Cuomo and with public health and medical doctors,” MTA Chairman and CEO Patrick Foye said on Pix11’s Morning News show.

The boarding procedure with express bus service is slightly different. Express bus riders will continue to board from the front door as normal, but will not be permitted to sit in the first three rows of the bus to ensure a safe social distance from bus drivers.

Riders with reduced mobility will still be permitted to board at the front of all local and SBS buses, and board as usual on express buses so they can use wheelchair ramps.

The new policy comes in the wake of the MTA announcing that 23 of its employees tested positive for coronavirus. Furthermore, the agency said it wants to do all it can to prevent contagion.

“We are disinfecting workplaces at the MTA, subway stations, Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road stations, every piece of rolling stock, subway cars, the cars on Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North, as well as paratransit vehicles. We’re doing stations as well,” Foye said.

Foye continues to advise riders to wash and sanitize their hands and avoid face touching.

The loss of bus revenue is yet another blow to MTA coffers and comes less than a week after the agency appealed for a $4 billion federal bailout due to a dive in passenger numbers throughout the transit system.

While the city has told residents to stay at home, the MTA is continuing to operate normal weekday services in order to transport essential employees to their jobs.

“Transit workers are coming up to work, showing up the work, to carry first responders to and from their jobs as they did after 9/11 and as they did after Superstorm Sandy.”

Foye said that employees are permitted to wear gloves and masks, but admitted there is a shortage of masks which he said is being addressed by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

“The Governor and his team are all over the issue, we have committed to union leadership that we will distribute masks to the entire workforce,” he said.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Row over Jonestown mass suicide site

Dec. 10, 2024 By Bert Wilkinson

Last week’s announcement that an upstart Guyanese local adventure tour operator plans to begin taking tourists to the now overgrown jungle commune where more than 900 Americans had committed mass suicide by drinking a cyanide-laced kool-aid brew in 1978 has sparked a simmering debate with some supporters adamant that the country should indeed cash in on the tragedy, while critics want it to be left alone as the tragedy had been a horrible blight on the nation.