Editorial Staff

Study Highlights Transit Agency Best Practices in Response to COVID-19

/in , , , , , , , /by Editorial Staff
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

Report describes what the MBTA is already doing and recommends additional steps

BOSTON – The MBTA is taking a number of important steps to mitigate risks associated with the coronavirus, but some transit agencies around the country – from Philadelphia to San Francisco – have done more, according to a new study that highlights the best practices of U.S. transit systems in response to COVID-19.

“The MBTA faces a daunting challenge trying to keep the system safe for essential workers, including its own employees, at a time of plummeting ridership and revenue,” said Andrew Mikula, author of “U.S. Transit Systems and COVID-19: How does the MBTA Compare?”

Mikula looks at transit system responses in a range of categories, including the following:

Public relations and transparency  

The MBTA posts regular COVID-19 updates online, and the Fiscal and Management Control Board livestreams its meetings and actively solicits public comments.  The next step would be for the T to release presentation materials for the meetings in advance, as Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) does.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) posts detailed information about infections among staff online and provides special COVID system maps with information on rail closings.  The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) even provides a map showing essential services adjacent to stations.

In the absence of some of these more advanced steps, MBTA unions have helped fill the gap by keeping employees engaged and informed on COVID-19.

Worker safety

The MBTA is restricting access to the front of buses to protect drivers.

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is eschewing fare collection procedures to facilitate rear-door boarding.  WMATA is giving workers the authority to limit boardings when a vehicle is too crowded to allow for social distancing.

Disinfection

The MBTA is cleaning high-contact areas at stations six times a day and cleaning vehicles at least daily.  The T has beefed up its inventory of cleaning supplies and is among the many transit agencies that have added hand sanitizer dispensers in particularly busy stations.

BART now cleans high-contact areas eight times a day and CTA is reconfiguring station waiting areas and gathering places to facilitate social distancing.  SEPTA claims to clean each vehicle twice a day and has limited its bus fleet to those with easy-to-clean seat materials such as plastic.

Administration

WMATA has and is implementing an official Pandemic Flu Plan.  The MBTA should develop a similar plan to be used in the event of another public health crisis, terrorist threat, or severe weather event.

About the Author

Andrew Mikula is the Lovett & Ruth Peters Economic Opportunity Fellow at Pioneer Institute. Mr. Mikula was previously a Roger Perry Government Transparency Intern at Pioneer Institute and studied economics at Bates College.

About Pioneer

Pioneer Institute is an independent, non-partisan, privately funded research organization that seeks to improve the quality of life in Massachusetts through civic discourse and intellectually rigorous, data-driven public policy solutions based on free market principles, individual liberty and responsibility, and the ideal of effective, limited and accountable government.

Get Our COVID-19 News, Tips & Resources!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Related Content

Ghost Dance – Native American Heritage Month – Resources for K-12 Education

In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on: Introducing K-12 schoolchildren to Native Americans in U.S. history.

Targeted government help for small business is needed

0 Comments
/
Covid-19 will frame economic policy discussions for years to come, just as the Great Recession did a decade ago. The economic impact of the pandemic includes widespread job losses, and millions of Americans are at risk of falling into poverty. Covid-19 is also accelerating pre-existing market trends – such as automation and online shopping – and their potentially devastating impact on the thousands of small businesses vulnerable to these market shifts. Will these businesses be able to adapt?

MCAS testing essential to address falling test scores

0 Comments
/
Amid the chaos that was created by schools suddenly being shuttered in March as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it made sense to cancel administration of Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests. But supporters of pending legislation that would place a four-year moratorium on using MCAS as a high school graduation requirement and create a commission to study alternatives to the tests are no longer responding to a crisis; they are using it to advance their anti-reform agenda.

Wall Street Journal Columnist Jason Riley on the 2020 Election, School Choice, & Race in America

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve,” Cara and Gerard are joined by Jason Riley, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and columnist for The Wall Street Journal. Jason shares insights on the 2020 election, its implications for the next two years, and assuming Vice President Biden becomes president, how he may govern on K-12 education.

Disputing Democracy – 5 Contentious U.S. Presidential Elections – Resources for K-12 Education

In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs, on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on: Introducing K-12 schoolchildren to the great, contentious presidential elections in U.S. history.

Pioneer Institute Statement on Governor Baker’s New COVID Restrictions

Read Pioneer Institute's public statement about Gov. Charlie Baker's new executive orders related to the state’s reopening plan that will go into effect on Nov. 6, issued in response to a significant uptick in COVID infections in Massachusetts,

Voting for Health: Party Opinions, Election Results & the Healthcare Policy Implications of Election 2020

0 Comments
/
Join Host Joe Selvaggi as he discusses with Harvard Professor Bob Blendon his New England Journal of Medicine Special Report, "Implications of the 2020 Election for U.S. Health Policy," which covers broad differences in both party’s view of the role of government in health care and what the election results will mean for Americans.

Hockey Sidelined Again

0 Comments
/
After months on the sidelines, youth hockey players across the state eagerly laced up their skates in August. Under current youth and amateur sports guidelines, locker rooms operate at 50 percent capacity, only one spectator should attend per player, and players wear masks on the bench. Unlike in MIAA high school sports, players do not wear facemasks while they play, except during faceoffs. 

“Double, Double Toil and Trouble” – 15 Halloween Resources for K-12 Students

In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs here, on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on: Introducing K-12 students to the history behind Halloween.

Staving Off Disaster: Lessons from Covid Applied to the Epic Battle Against Drug Resistant Microbes

0 Comments
/
Join Hubwonk host Joe Selvaggi and Pioneer Institute’s Bill Smith as they discuss with inspirational public health advocate Gunnar Esiason the findings of his latest white paper, "Antimicrobial Resistance: Learning From the current health crisis to inform another."  The episode looks at the challenges to global health presented by evolving drug resistant diseases and how the lessons learned from COVID-19 could potentially save millions of lives.

The Commonwealth of Health -Massachusetts’s Great Medical Innovations – 15 Resources for High School Students

In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs here, on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on: Introducing high school students to great medical innovations from Massachusetts.

NCTQ’s Kate Walsh on the Crisis in K-12 Teacher Prep, Quality, & Evaluation

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve,” Cara and Gerard are joined by Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality. They discuss the qualifications of those who enter the teaching profession, explore teacher preparation, and key differences between teacher preparation, accreditation, and job prospects in the U.S. and other countries. They also speculate about what a Biden presidency might mean for K-12 education policymaking, and discuss how to diversify the teaching pipeline.