How Public Transit Agencies are Responding to COVID-19 & Official Recommendations

Source: Meeting of the Minds Published: April 22, 2020

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA), the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA), and the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) have all released recommendations to help agencies during the COVID-19 outbreak. Agencies have had to act fast to protect riders and staff, and make difficult decisions to adapt to evolving conditions.

So what do these recommendations call for, and how are agencies using them? Much of the advice is centered around keeping staff and riders distanced from each other and protected from contact with the virus. Here, we present APTA, CUTA, and UITP’s recommendations and a window into what they look like in practice, by looking at survey results from Transit, which received information from more than 60 transit agencies on what policies they are putting in place to safely ride out the pandemic.

Communication

One of the most important actions agencies can take to protect their riders and their employees is to communicate their plans and keep everyone informed. It’s why APTA, CUTA, and UITP issued multiple recommendations around communication:

Official recommendations (and who recommends them):

  • Simple/straightforward communication (APTA)

  • Provide internal communication to operators and staff on proper hygiene and COVID-19 status (CUTA/UITP)

  • Use media to inform passengers (APTA/CUTA/UITP)

  • Review transit agency/municipal pandemic management plans and increase communication with local health authorities (APTA/CUTA/UITP)

Read more here.

Chelsea McCulloughCOVID19, mobility