A new coronavirus safety plan for Bay Area transit agencies recommends bus, train and ferry riders keep a minimum 3-foot distance from each other — half the distance recommended by state and federal health officials.
The 3-foot distancing is one of several guidelines in the “Riding Together: Bay Area Healthy Transit Plan” drafted this month by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in conjunction with local transit agencies.
“The transit agencies’ call for minimum 3-foot distancing and 6-foot distancing where possible is based on guidance for 1-meter distancing from the World Health Organization and European transportation agencies, and by the experience of public transit operators in many western European and east Asian countries,” MTC spokesman John Goodwin wrote in an email.
A 6-foot separation is still recommended between bus drivers and passengers, with other measures such as rear-door boarding and installing shields on driver stations also advised to protect operators.
The plan outlines minimum coronavirus-related safety measures that all 27 transit agencies in the Bay Area are expected to follow, including mask mandates, vehicle sanitation, employee infection tracing and providing protective equipment.
Transit agencies are expected to submit monthly reports with data on mask-wearing compliance among passengers and staff, passenger counts and tracing of infected employees. MTC plans to publish the data on its website beginning next month.
The commission will discuss the plan at an online meeting at 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday.
The safety plan has come under scrutiny, especially among transit employee unions. They argue that it does not do enough to protect employees and riders or actively puts them at risk, such as the 3-foot distancing change.
“The MTC is trying to gut safety measures out of the blue. It just doesn’t seem right,” said Shane Weinstein, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1575, which represents Golden Gate Transit employees.
A letter sent to MTC earlier this month from four transit employee unions and two transportation organizations — Urban Habitat and TransForm — called for more extensive safety requirements, including mandated plastic barriers for drivers, increased hazard pay for essential workers, setting strict passenger limits and providing leave for employees.
Weinstein says the recommendation of 3 feet does not align with current federal and recently published state guidance of 6 feet separation between riders. The MTC plan states that while the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends 6 feet, this distance was recommended before face coverings were recommended.
MTC staff have also cited Portland’s transit agency, TriMet, as a local adopter of the 3-foot distance protocol.
Marin County’s guidelines recommend 6-foot distancing between riders, though that is under discussion, according to Damon Connolly, MTC commissioner and Marin supervisor.
Agencies can still opt to require 6-foot distancing guidance under the plan. Connolly said the reduced distancing, in combination with safety measures such as masks, will allow for greater passenger capacity as riders return, and could address issues of riders being passed over at bus stops because of space restrictions.
“The goal, of course, is to get to a place where we can adequately accommodate transit-dependent riders, the essential workforce that are bus riders and, of course, ultimately attracting and facilitating the return of ridership overall with the safeguards in place,” Connolly said.
Marin Transit plans to continue its 6-foot distancing for the time being and limit capacity to nine passengers per bus, said Nancy Whelan, the general manager. While the agency has added more bus frequency to address an increasing trend of abandoned riders, it won’t be able to sustain the added costs, especially with declines in tax and fare revenues, she said.
“When we’re under a state watch order we probably don’t expect to have something less than 6 feet,” Whelan said. “But when we are not under the watch order and as people are wanting and needing the transit service, we want to be able to have more riders on the bus.”
The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District also experienced sharp declines in bus and ferry passengers in recent months. While these transit services are largely subsidized by bridge toll revenue, transit dependence will increase again as the economy continues to open, district officials said.
“With enhanced cleaning measures, adherence to face covering requirements, and a minimum of 3 feet between passengers, public transit has been shown to be a safe form of travel that will be essential to the reopening of our economy,” said Denis Mulligan, the district general manager.
Weinstein said the plan lacks guidance on the sanitization of bus driver cabins when drivers switch out. While this is occurring with Golden Gate Transit buses during weekday daytime hours, Weinstein said drivers are responsible for the sanitation outside those times without being provided training or compensation for their time.
“At this point, the district has told me straight up that they’re not going to do that on weekends and nights,” Weinstein said. “They’re expecting the operators to do that.”
Weinstein also criticized the district for not providing hand sanitizer dispensers on buses when other agencies do.
Other bridge district employees such as bridge patrol officers and tow truck drivers are also responsible for cleaning their stations between drivers. The district provides disinfecting wipes, said district spokesman Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz. Hand sanitizer is not being provided on buses at this time, he said, because of safety risks such as riders lingering around the driver area, the potential for passengers to slip and fire hazards from the sanitizers’ high alcohol content.
At least five of the members of the local union have tested positive for COVID-19, Weinstein said. One member is suspected of dying from COVID-19 this month.
Cosulich-Schwartz confirmed the death of the driver, who was on medical leave and had not worked for the district for more than a year.
“We send our condolences to his family for this tragic loss,” Cosulich-Schwartz wrote.
Julia Gonzales, communications manager for the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit district, known as SMART, said their agency has already implemented most if not all of the measures in the plan.
In addition to twice-daily sanitation of train cars, touchless fares through Clipper and providing hand sanitizer on trains, engineer-conductors also carry extra masks in case passengers forget them, she said.
As for the 3-foot distancing guidance, Gonzalez said SMART “would adhere to whatever the recommendations are.”
“But because of the length of the train, there is plenty of space for people to spread out and to meet or exceed that social distance space,” she said.
The plan can be found online at healthytransitplan.org. Information about the MTC meeting can be found at mtc.ca.gov.
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