PONTOON BEACH - Madison County Transit, the agency for public transportation in Madison County, suspended all bus fares on its fixed-route and Paratransit services, and also enacted new procedures and rules to keep its bus drivers, passengers and other employees safe after an emergency meeting of the Board of Trustees held Tuesday at the MCT headquarters in Pontoon Beach.
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MCT also authorized the closing of its station buildings in Alton, Collinsville, Edwardsville, Granite City and Wood River, although the stations will still continue to pick up and drop off passengers transferring to other buses, as well as its headquarters to the public. These closings, along with fare suspensions, remain in effect until further notice.
In the press release, interim Managing Director S.J. Morrison emphasized the health and safety of both its employees and passengers as an overriding reason in enacting these changes, which took effect at the opening of business on Wednesday.
"We are closely monitoring the situation regarding COVID-19, which is changing rapidly," Morrison said in the release, "and we are staying in close contact with the Madison County Health Department, sharing information as needed. The health and safety of our passengers, patrons and the communities we serve is our top priority. We know that MCT provides critical transportation to the community, and that thousands of individuals depend on our services each day."
Morrison urged its passengers to practice the Center for Disease Control's recommendations during the pandemic, which includes practicing social distancing, constant hand washing and sanitizing, staying home when need be and avoiding contact with untreated surfaces when possible.
The agency is also taking proactive steps to protect its employees, drivers and passengers, such as increasing cleaning and disinfecting of all surfaces and buses, having drivers wear rubber gloves and providing them with hand sanitizer bottles and wipes, along with constant disinfecting its fleet of company cars, the removal of all paper timetables for each of its bus routes, and distributing CDC and Illinois Department of Public Health recommendations and guidelines for passengers to stay safe."We take the responsibility very seriously," Morrison said in the press release, "and are making every effort to protect both our employees, and the people we serve."
In addition, the sale and use of passes, paper transfers and tickets and free ride IDs has also been suspended until further notice.
"We have a large percentage of our population with passes, transfers, tickets. etc.," Morrison said in an interview, "so this eliminates their handling of any fare product by our drivers, and reduces multi-passenger interaction."
The agency will see its fiscal year 2020 revenues reduced greatly, but Morrison feels that the health and safety of all who use public transportation, along with MCT employees, is of utmost importance.
"We are foregoing the collection of fares, and it's going to be a reduction of our revenue for this fiscal year," Morrison said. "That being said, the health and safety of our employees and passengers is our top priority."
The public is encouraged to keep up to date on news and information on the COVID-19 pandemic that affects MCT operations by visiting the organization's website, www.mct.org, and by signing up for both MCT text alerts to cell phones and E-mail updates. For any questions involving both text and E-mail alerts, please call MCT headquarters at (618) 797-4636 (INFO), or by E-mailing info@mct.org.
