(Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Driver and rider safety

Plexiglass shields, no free transit: P.A. transit responds to COVID-19

Mar 26, 2020 | 4:12 PM

The City of Prince Albert will be installing plexiglass shields around bus drivers to separate them from passengers and lower the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

Transportation and Traffic Manager Keri Sapsford told paNOW the barriers will go in next week. Meanwhile other measures have been put in place to protect drivers and passengers from the outbreak.

Posters have been put up in all buses informing riders they must maintain a minimum of one meter of separation from other passengers and the driver. Sapsford said this hasn’t been a problem since the transit system has lost 60-70 per cent of its ridership in the past several weeks. Buses are disinfected every evening and high-touch surfaces are wiped down frequently. March bus passes will be valid through April to prevent people from having to visit a gas station or pharmacy to buy new ones. Transfer tickets are now placed on top of the cash box and not given directly to riders.

No free transit

Other Canadian cities including Regina and Saskatoon have temporarily implemented free transit to allow for rear door boarding to limit contact between drivers and passengers.

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Sapsford said Prince Albert had discussions about doing the same but decided against it because not being able to screen who gets on the bus could negatively impact safety.

“The drivers were adamant that we should not offer the busing for free and that they didn’t want to load from the rear. They felt that that was more risky and cause more safety issues,” she explained. “That’s why we are getting shields for the drivers so that when people are walking past, they’re still maintaining some separation.”

Sapsford said drivers are particularly concerned about their safety after the death of one of their colleagues who was assaulted behind his home.

“Our drivers are a little bit shaken up at the moment with what recently happened to one of our bus drivers, so they’re hyper conscious of people coming on the bus and making sure they can control the situation a little bit better,” she said.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom