Fine maskless!
Union: $100 for transit refuseniks
Straphangers who refuse to wear masks on public transit should be fined $100, Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Tony Utano said Tuesday.
Utano floated the idea before state lawmakers holding a hearing on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He worried the agency hasn’t done enough to protect his members, who include 40,000 NYC Transit workers.
MTA officials said their inhouse surveys show more than 90% of subway riders wear face masks. But Utano said Local 100 safety teams’ surveys show that only about 60% of bus riders wear masks.
Gov. Cuomo issued an executive order in April requiring people to wear masks while using transit in New York. Under the order, transit workers can ask riders to leave the system if they have no mask. But there are no other consequences for those who flout the rule.
“I know it’s hard for people to pay the ticket [fare],” said Utano. “But you know what it’s a lot harder? For someone to go to a funeral for someone who passed away because you didn’t wear your mask.”
Disposable masks are available free at subway token booths and inside some buses that have mask dispensers. MTA staffers also tour the subway offering masks to riders.
MTA officials said they’ve considered mandating fines for unmasked riders for months. The tickets could be legalized by a new Cuomo executive order or a new state law.
The MTA could on its own impose a fine by a new regulation, officials said. A fine imposed by regulation would be limited to $100 for NYC Transit riders, and $50 for commuter railroad riders.
Transit workers would not be able to issue the tickets, but NYPD and MTA cops or the agency’s in-house “Eagle” security team could.
Utano also criticized transit honchos over an early March memo telling workers they were not allowed to wear masks, citing guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“If a second wave is coming we can’t operate the same way,” said Utano. “If we don’t have a mask, then we’re not going to work.”
At least 131 MTA employees died after contracting the virus between March 26 and June 2. The agency has reported no COVID-19 deaths since then.