Masks key to getting transit back on track
Bay Area mass transit officials are gearing up for what may be the biggest challenge to public transportation ever — masked transit in the the era of coronavirus.
“The very basis of mass transit is in the word ‘mass.’ It only works financially and operationally with big numbers of riders.” Metropolitan Transportation Commission spokesman Randy Rentschler said.
The challenge is that in order to bring back riders in big enough numbers to keep transit systems like Muni and BART running means ensuring that riders feel safe. And in order for buses and trains to fill back up, social distancing will need to take a back seat.
It is going to be a tricky balance.
“The one thing that is clear is that there is no clarity on how to do it,” San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Director Jeffrey Tumlin said. But there are possibilities. Tumlin said he’s been looking at Seoul and Taipei as possible examples of how to navigate the resurrection of mass transit. He said both cities are practicing safe distancing in the workplace but not on their mass transit systems, which are running at about 80% capacity.
“They have eliminated social distancing on mass transit in exchange for enforced face masks and temperature checks,” Tumlin said. “They also have a lot of marketing and media support for masks. Obviously, San Francisco is not East
Asia. Here in the U.S. we don’t have the same cultural climate.”
And therein lies the challenge.
BART General Manager Robert Powers has been riding the trains regularly since the March 16 stayathome orders were issued. He estimated that 95% of the riders that he has seen were wearing masks or some other type of face covering.
“People will need to think of masks the same way they think of their keys and cell phones. You don’t leave home without it,” Powers said.
Tumlin said Muni was seeing high mask use as well.
While most people will comply, the challenge for Muni and BART will be the person who comes onto a bus or train car without a mask and starts coughing, making everyone else feel unsafe and less inclined to keep using the system.
“That could be very, very problematic,” Powers said.
To lessen the threat, BART police are being posted at station entrances and will be enforcing the mask rule by refusing entry to those who refuse to wear one. But first the police and the transit agency’s public ambassadors will work to get people to use some type of covering.
Downtown San Francisco BART stations are stocking extra masks for riders. Police are also being given masks to hand out.
Muni, which is a much more open system, with many more stops than BART, is trying to be strategic about mask enforcement.
With the help of drivers, Muni has identified stops where people without a mask are more likely try to board. They have assigned 36 ambassadors to the stops, which are mostly downtown and along Market Street, to hand out masks.
Tumlin and Powers said they had no plans to physically haul people from trains if they refuse to comply.
“I don’t want to see police dragging people off of trains for not wearing masks,” Tumlin said. Powers agreed. “That is not our style,” he said.
In other words, masking will largely be selfpoliced.
If the public fails to take that to heart, “then we may have to consider limiting ridership,” to ensure social distancing Tumlin said.
Limiting ridership would mean less fare revenue, longer waits for buses and trains, and the prospect of people using cars more frequently.
There is also the question of how riders will react if the largely selfenforced mask rules fail to keep walking health hazards from getting on board a bus or train.
“If everyone retreats in a fearbased way to the car then the economy, which is based on mass transit, doesn’t work,” Tumlin said. Why does that matter? “Bringing people back onto public transit is also essential for reopening the economy,” Tumlin said.
So as we begin to head back to work, our fate and the fate of the city’s economy is in our hands and our masks.
Welcome to the new world. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Phil Matier appears Sundays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KGOTV morning and evening news and can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call 4157778815, or email pmatier@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @philmatier