GRT limits buses to 20 riders

To limit the spread of COVID-19, Grand River Transit has begun limiting the number of riders on their buses.

GRT bus drivers will be monitoring their capacity to ensure no more than 20 riders are on the bus at any given moment.

This follows as bus services are also reduced in frequency by about 25 per cent.

On Monday, Peter Zinck, Director of Transit Services, Region of Waterloo appeared on Kitchener Today with Brian Bourke on 570 NEWS to discuss the changes.

According to Zinck, bus drivers are to ensure riders have appropriate room to physically distance from one another. No additional passengers will be picked up otherwise.

When capacity reaches 15 to 20 passengers (or one-half to two-thirds full), and unable to safely add more passengers, then GRT drivers will contact their supervisor to send for another bus.

“So that's our plan this week, is to understand from our operators where these situations are happening, and respond with extra trips,” he said.

We are now managing physical distancing on buses.

Once a bus reaches the point where physical distancing can’t be maintained, the bus will not pick up more passengers and another bus will be sent.

We have added additional trips on routes that we know are busier. pic.twitter.com/wajUIWE5ty

— Grand River Transit (@GRT_ROW) April 20, 2020

According to Zinck, their service has been floating around 28,000 boardings a weekday, or 30 per cent of their usual ridership. They saw up to 100,000 boardings a weekday before the pandemic.

The GRT are still emphasizing that only essential trips should be taken during the pandemic.