MBTA will reinstitute front-door boarding
The MBTA is taking another step back toward normal operations, announcing that customers can once again board buses and trolleys through the front doors.
The change takes effect Monday after three months of rear-door-only boarding for the buses and trolleys. This applies to all buses and the T’s light-rail vehicles: the Mattapan trolley line, and the street-level stops on the Green Line trolleys.
“We’re glad to be able to return to the normal boarding process, and as we continue through the reopening process, it is important that customers and employees remain vigilant in our efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19,” MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said in a statement Wednesday. “By taking steps like wearing face coverings and social distancing, we’re able to continue to make progress and keep customers safe and healthy.”
All customers will continue to be required to wear masks, and the T is asking people to avoid standing in the areas right near the drivers.
The T originally put in the rear-door boarding policy in March as the COVID-19 pandemic swept in. The idea, the T said, was to encourage social distancing and protect the drivers. The transit agency also has installed barriers between the drivers and the passengers in an effort to stop the spread of the virus.
The T notes, “If there is a substantial statewide increase in active COVID-19 cases, the MBTA may revisit the updated boarding procedures and reinstitute reardoor boarding on buses and trolleys at street-level stops with customers notified in advance of the change.”
The T says bus drivers will retain the right to skip stops if they determine that adding people would create danger.
Bus ridership has been a bit more resilient than train ridership, but the number of people taking the MBTA “continues to be just a fraction of pre-pandemic levels.” The T went from making $5.43 million in non-monthly ticket sales in one week at the start of March down to just $400,000 the week of March 22.
That weekly revenue dipped as low as $260,000 in mid-April, in the height of the state’s COVID surge before starting to creep back up after the first phase of the reopening began at the end of May. Even so, the T only made $790,000 the week of June 21 — the most recent week for which data is available — which is nearly 88% less than the $6.44 million the T made the same week in 2019.