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

Study: Officials Must Address Basic Questions to Improve Public School Computer Science Education

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic has further transitioned education towards electronic devices, computer science education in K-12 public schools around the country faces a number of daunting challenges, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

Hubwonk Ep. 7: Covid Testing: What went wrong, where we are & when we’ll get closer to normalcy

0 Comments
/
https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/chtbl.com/track/G45992/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/828394294-pioneerinstitute-hubwonk-ep-7-covid-testing-what-went-wrong-where-we-are-when-well-get-closer-to-normalcy.mp3 Join…

As stay-at-home orders remain in place at the start of summer tourist season, COVID-19 takes a bite out of resort towns’ economies

0 Comments
/
Last month, Pioneer Institute showed that the hospitality and…

Survey Suggests Demand for Telecommuting After COVID-19 Crisis

Citing an avoidance of the commute and more flexible scheduling, nearly 63 percent of respondents to Pioneer Institute’s survey, “Will You Commute To Work When The COVID-19 Crisis Is Over?” expressed a preference to work from home one day a week, and a plurality preferred two to three days a week, even after a COVID-19 vaccine is available. Respondents cite social isolation as the biggest drawback of remote work. The survey was conducted from April 22nd to May 15th, and received responses from over 700 individuals.

It’s Time for the MBTA to Actively Engage Riders to Understand Their Commuting Plans

0 Comments
/
The MBTA should conduct a survey of mTicket app users regarding their future plans. Some may never work in offices again. Some will certainly do some workdays in the office and some at home. Others will be in offices and back to business as usual at some point. Using their responses, the T can calculate ridership and determine projected revenue.

Today’s Bureau of Labor Statistics estimate of a 15.1 percent unemployment rate in April only reflects half of Massachusetts’ COVID-19 unemployment surge

0 Comments
/
Today's release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of a 15.1%…

Homeschooling Expert Kerry McDonald on Harvard Law Professor Controversy & COVID

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve,” Cara and Gerard are happy to be joined by Kerry McDonald, a homeschooling expert and Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education, on the major lessons we all should be learning from this educational moment, now that COVID has turned most of America’s 50 million schoolchildren and their families into "homeschoolers."

32.9 percent of the Massachusetts workforce and 26.2 percent of the U.S. workforce have filed unemployment claims over the past nine weeks.

0 Comments
/
Data released today by the U.S. Department of the shows that 33.0 percent of the Massachusetts workforce and 26.2 percent of the U.S. workforce have filed unemployment claims since the COVID-19 unemployment surge began nine weeks ago.

Study Finds Pandemic Likely to Negatively Impact Biopharmaceutical Sector

Contrary to conventional wisdom that says the coronavirus pandemic will generally benefit biopharmaceutical companies, a new Pioneer Institute study finds many companies will emerge from the pandemic commercially weaker, dealing with delays in new product launches and with fewer resources to invest in research and development.

“Every Action has an Equal and Opposite Reaction”: 8 K-12 Science Resources During COVID-19

0 Comments
/
The fourth in Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19 focuses on science education.

COVID-19 Roundup from Pioneer: The race for a vaccine; Unemployment Tracker; Reopening reactions; Grading BPS on remote learning; Holyoke Soldiers’ Home understaffing; & more!

0 Comments
/
Pioneer staff share their top picks for COVID-19 stories highlighting useful resources, best practices, and questions we should be asking our public and private sector leaders.

In The Era Of COVID-19, Mass. Needs To Get Long-Term Care Right

0 Comments
/
This op-ed originally appeared in WGBH News. In much of the…