Madison County reduces bus service due to coronavirus-related drops in ridership
Madison County Transit will reduce its fixed-route bus service to a “modified Saturday service level” seven days a week, beginning Sunday, March 29, and continuing until further notice.
The service reduction was prompted by sharp declines in ridership due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a news release on Tuesday. It explained that fixed-route service had been increasing in recent months, but last week experienced a 37% system-wide drop in daily ridership. MCT Express trips to downtown St. Louis saw a drop of 58%, compared to March of last year.
Here are details of the reduced service:
All MCT fixed-routes in Madison County will operate on their Saturday schedule, seven days a week.
MCT will temporarily discontinue all MCT Express service to downtown St. Louis, including the #1X Riverbend Express, #5 Tri-City Regional trips to St. Louis, #14X Highland Express, #16X Edwardsville-Glen Carbon Express and #13X Highland–SIUE Express from Highland to SIUE.
The #13 Troy-Glen Carbon bus, which doesn’t operate on Saturdays, will operate on its weekday schedule.
The #20X Gateway Commerce Center Express will operate on its weekday schedule.
To ensure driver and passenger health and safety during the period of reduced service and to keep the entire MCT driver workforce employed, some drivers will be designated as “assistants,” according to the news release. They will clean buses mid-route as passengers get on and off.
MCT asks that passengers limit trips to essential travel only, avoid touching commonly-used surfaces and follow social distancing protocols on buses and at bus stops.
“We know that thousands of individuals depend on MCT each day to get to work, to medical appointments or to shop, so making the decision to reduce service has been difficult for all of us,” said Interim Managing Director S.J. Morrison. “But continuing to maintain Saturday-level service will provide transportation throughout the day for those who need it the most.”
Last Wednesday, the MCT Board of Trustees held an emergency meeting and approved a temporary suspension of all fares on its fixed-route and paratransit services to eliminate the passing of cash, transfers and tickets and to reduce driver-passenger contact, according to the news release.
MCT also has closed its Base of Operations and Transfer Stations to the public until further notice and taken additional steps to increase cleaning of surfaces.
“Our team’s commitment to serve the people of Madison County during this situation has really been encouraging,” Morrison said. “I’ve never been more proud to work with this group of people.”
For more information, visit www.mct.org, call 618-797-INFO (4636) or e-mail info@mct.org.
This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 12:26 PM.
