Metro-North launches PPE vending machines, but none in Connecticut
Metro-North Railroad has boosted its efforts to protect commuters from catching the coronavirus.
Metro-North officials earlier this month announced that food vending machines in a dozen stations along the commuter railway’s transit line were being converted to sell personal protective equipment instead. Catherine Rinaldi, president of Metro-North, said adding PPE to vending machines “is a reminder to customers that they must wear a mask while riding with us – and now there is no excuse; if they lost or forgot their mask – they can buy one.”
Since July 10, commuters traveling to and from those stations have been able to buy KN95 masks, bottled hand sanitizer and gloves from the machines. The products range in price from 75 cents for a single-use hand sanitizer to $9.99 for a premium KN95 mask.
Unfortunately for Connecticut commuters, those vending machines aren’t in this state.
Metro-North spokesman Aaron Donovan said all decisions regarding train stations in Connecticut along the transit agency’s New Haven Line come under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Transportation. Kevin Nursick, a spokesman for the state DOT, said agency officials are looking into offering PPE via vending machines, “but have no definitive plans at this time.”
“We have been very focused on providing what our customers are asking for, mainly in the form of clean and routinely sanitized and disinfected stations and trains,” Nursick said. “Hand sanitizer is available at all our stations and anyone boarding a train in Connecticut without a mask would be provided one by the conductor.”
The idea of having vending machines offering PPE “just hasn't been asked for from our customer base,” he said.
“We are looking into it as a possible added convenience,” Nursick said.
Jim Gildea, chairman of the Connecticut Commuter Rail Council, an independent board that acts as an advocate for commuters on the state’s railroad lines, said he would be supportive of such a move. Gildea, of Derby, said putting PPE vending equipment in Connecticut transportation facilities “is an important initiative.”
“If we expect our commuters to start to feel comfortable coming back, then we have to ensure that we are taking every step necessary to provide them a comfort level that they are safe and protected,” Gildea said. “Easy and accessible vending machines with health and safety products is one more extra layer of comfort.”
If DOT officials do decide to move ahead with vending machines on the New Haven Line, one thing that must be considered is who would operate the machines.
Under the RandolphShepard Act, approved by Congress in 1936 and signed into law by President Franklin
D. Roosevelt, blind persons must be given a priority to operate vending machines on federal and state property.
If Connecticut transportation officials decide to put PPE vending machines in train stations along the state’s portion of the New Haven Line, they would have to find a way to give members of the blind community the right of first refusual to operate the business.
The vending machines along Metro-North’s train stations in New York state are stocked by Canteen, a division of Compass Group USA, and were built by Vengo, a manufacturer of retail vending machines. Donovan, the Metro-North spokesman, said sales data from the vending machines was not immediately available.
“But we are hearing that the PPE items are top sellers in the machines,” he said.
The bulk of the PPE machines are located in stations along Metro-North’s Hudson River Line. Six of the stations equipped with the vending machines are on that transit line.
The launch of PPE vending machines in MetroNorth stations came just weeks after a June 30 announcement from New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority, of which MetroNorth is a subsidiary, announced it was deploying a dozen PPE vending machines at 10 New York City subway stations as part of a pilot program.