Better late than never.
While many or most major U.S. cities waived bus fares and implemented rear-door boarding days or weeks ago to reduce COVID-19 exposure for drivers and passengers during the pandemic, the city of Chicago has dragged its feet on this best practice. Streetsblog advocated for this safety strategy a week ago, and ten CTA bus and train operators have already tested positive for the disease.
Today the CTA announced that it will be introducing rear boarding immediately, but the free fare policy will only last a few weeks, which will preserve fare box revenue, but make this tactic somewhat less effective for preventing viral transmission.
The transit agency was already planning to test all-door boarding on two bus lines this year as a strategy to reduce “dwell time” at bus stops, installing Ventra card readers inside the rear door. Starting tomorrow, most customers will be required to enter through the rear door, so that they don’t pass near the operator, reducing the chances of infecting them with the coronavirus. (All buses currently in service have a Plexiglas shield that partially protects operators from respiratory droplets, and masks and gloves are provided to them.) While the front of the bus will be chained off, people with mobility challenges will still be allowed to enter through the front to use the wheelchair ramp or have the bus “kneel” for them.
For starters passengers will be allowed to board buses for free, as in the case in other cities. However, the CTA is in the process of equipping all of its fleet with rear-door card readers, and installation is expected to be completed within a few weeks. As soon as entire lines are outfitted, passengers will be required to start paying again.
CTA ridership is currently down about 80 percent overall, and the system is currently hemorrhaging roughly $1 million a day, according to spokesman Brian Steele. Therefore reinstating bus fares before the pandemic ends will slow the bleeding a bit. Steele also argued that another reason to bring back the fare requirement before Illinois’ Stay at Home order ends is to discourage non-essential transit trips, which are banned under the order.
However, I’ve heard no reports of an uptick in unnecessary bus ridership in other cities that have waived fares. It seems that most people understand that during a global pandemic it’s a bad idea to ride transit unless you really have to.
Moreover, a downside of bringing back bus fares during the crisis is that it could result in more viral transmission. When customers are required to swipe their cards again, that will slow down boarding somewhat, causing more queuing. And passengers paying in cash will presumably be required to use the front door, bringing them close to the driver.
According to Steele, the delay in implementing rear-door boarding was due to the need to train drivers, design and install instructional signs at the front and rear doors, and plan for card reader installation — another drawback not waiving bus fares during the crisis.
Steele said the CTA hasn’t calculated how much the temporary fare hiatus will cost. But the income loss is expected to be relatively insignificant compared to the major funding blows the system will likely have to weather due to falling sales tax and real estate transfer tax revenue during the coming recession.
About 20 percent of the CTA bus fleet has automated rear doors the driver can open. On the rest, customers will need to grasp the rubber strip along the door to pull it open. Steel said the doors will be disinfected throughout the day, but customers should wash their hands or use hand sanitizer after riding.
Some cities have taped signs on bus and train seats telling people to sit elsewhere to encourage 6’+ social distancing. However, Steel said the placards are often removed or damaged, and noted that the CTA has about 1,800 buses and 1,400 railcars where the signs would need to be installed, so it’s not going that route.
However, in the wake of dangerous crowding on routes such as 79th Street, the CTA has removed accordion buses from lines that are currently seeing light ridership and deployed them on busier routes. And a new policy debuting tomorrow allows drivers to switch to drop-off-only mode when they have 15 customers on a regular bus, or 22 passengers on an articulated vehicle. When that happens, additional buses will be dispatched to pick up the slack.
“We do understand that these changes will be new for CTA customers,” Steele said. “Like a lot of aspects of daily life, many routines on CTA have changed or will change, but at some point we will return to normalcy.”
Here are some tips on preventing the spread of COVID-19, and advice for Chicagoans on what to do if you think you may have been exposed to the virus.
via Streetsblog Chicago
April 9, 2020 at 06:47AM
IL Transportation News 