B.C. Transit has stopped collecting fares and is loading passengers through rear doors as it works to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
The measures will be in place for 30 days.
鈥淲e continue to work hard to implement plans and processes as necessary,鈥� said B.C. Transit spokesman Jonathon Dyck.
He said that having customers board via rear doors will 鈥渆nhance social-distancing for drivers and passengers.鈥�
Passengers who need to use the bus ramp or have the bus lowered so they can board will still be able to load through the front door, he said.
People are being encouraged to move to open spaces on the bus, and to check the NextRide website to see how full a particular bus is, Dyck said.
Not collecting fares on either the conventional or handyDART systems reduces interactions for drivers and is another way to create social-distancing, he said.
B.C. Transit is doing what it can to have the right number of buses on the road, Dyck said.
Ridership in Greater Victoria has gone down by as much as 50% because of the COVID-19 pandemic, in part because classes are no longer being held on the University of Victoria and Camosun College campuses.
鈥淲e鈥檙e working to match ridership with demand and expect to have daily trip cancellations for the foreseeable future,鈥� Dyck said. 鈥淲e will update customers on a day-by-day basis through our website and our customer call centre.鈥�
Similar measures are being put in place on transit systems across the country.
The free fares are not an issue, given the 鈥渦ncharted circumstance鈥� of what is happening, Dyck said. 鈥淓verybody鈥檚 dealing with this right now, not just us,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 organizations and businesses and agencies.鈥�
鈥淲e realize that people rely on us to get to where they need to go,鈥� he said.
鈥淭hat includes work. We have staff and health-care workers that need to get to the hospital or care facilities.
鈥淲e have people that need to go out for groceries or to pharmacies.鈥�
B.C. Transit previously announced that it had stepped up cleaning on buses to deal with COVID-19.
鈥淲e do our daily cleans and then the full-detail clean, as necessary, but we鈥檝e also instituted regular disinfecting of high-touch areas,鈥� Dyck said. 鈥淎nd we do have plans if we need to increase our cleaning processes.鈥�
More cleaning is being done at B.C. Transit facilities, as well.
