What to Know
- The Metropolitan Transportation Authority launched a pilot program to mount dispensers of free masks inside buses for its riders in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus.
- The MTA plans to roll out the pilot across all boroughs -- on more than 20 routes and 400 buses by the end of August. All customers and MTA employees are required to wear a mask while riding public transit.
- Wednesday's announcement follows the launch of “Operation Respect,” a new MTA initiative with a “Mask Force” comprised of hundreds of volunteers distributing masks directly to customers throughout the subway, bus and commuter rail system.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority launched a pilot program to mount dispensers of free masks inside buses for its riders in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus.
The MTA has already completed installed these dispensers on 100 buses on six bus routes in three boroughs. Riders on the Bx12 SBS and Bx41SBS routes in the Bronx, S53 Staten Island local route, and X63, X64 and X68 express routes in Queens can now easily access the free masks from dispensers mounted at the rear doors of the SBS and local buses, and at the front door of express buses.
The dispensers are off-the-shelf plastic containers with modifications made by New York City Transit. Each container is properly secured and will be refilled daily. Each plastic dispenser holds about 50 masks.
“This is another important way we are coming up with solutions to ensure customers can conveniently obtain a mask if they have lost or forgotten their own when they board our buses,” Craig Cipriano, President of the MTA Bus Company and Senior Vice President of Buses for MTA New York City Transit, said in a statement. “When you wear a face covering on public transit you’re doing so out of respect for your fellow passengers and the health and safety of our bus operators – plus it’s the law.”
The MTA plans to roll out the pilot across all boroughs -- on more than 20 routes and 400 buses by the end of August. All customers and MTA employees are required to wear a mask while riding public transit.
Wednesday's mask dispenser announcement follows the launch of “Operation Respect,” a new MTA initiative with a “Mask Force” comprised of hundreds of volunteers distributing masks directly to customers throughout the subway, bus and commuter rail system.
News
To further protect customers, the State of New York has provided the MTA with an additional million masks for distribution, on top of the previous two million masks that were donated by the State of New York and the City of New York earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic.
