March 30th 2020 Covid 19 Update

Last week was pretty crazy, emergency signup, lots of members brining up concerns, media calling nonstop, but we got through it!

I’ve been in meetings throughout the weekend with the employer and just to highlight a few things, you will soon be seeing cleaning crews in the downtown terminal that will board buses and sanitize touch points within the bus, all passengers must exit when this is being done, hoping that will help eliminate some of these “joy riders” riding around just for the fun of it, we talked about removing the benches from the terminals to help eliminate the loiterers, we also spoke about police presence, the police have been told to step up patrols in the terminals especially the downtown terminal, we discussed access transit and the close proximity the operators get to the passengers, masks gloves and more sanitizer is on the way for all city employees.

You also may see soon signs on seats or seats removed from the buses to keep the loads to 9 plus the operator.

We had discussions on how we all feel the employer is failing us by not protecting the frontline workers, I made it very clear they need to do more and they agreed.

We have been pushing the employer into protecting us since the start, we have been successful in getting the employer implement rear door loading no fare enforcement and blocked off section of seats to keep the distance from the operator, by going to the media we were able to to get gloves and sanitizer, rest assured each and every concern has and will be brought forward, we are doing everything we can in order to keep our members protected and safe.

Remember we’re all going through these uncertain times together some deal with it different than others let’s be patient, understanding and supporting of each other through this!