UPDATE: Masks To Be Required On Transit Buses

Transit passengers across New Brunswick will have to start wearing masks next Monday.

The move will allow the province’s three transit systems to boost ridership amid the pandemic.

Marc Dionne, general manager of the Saint John Parking and Transit Commission, says the city worked with their counterparts in Moncton and Fredericton on a unified approach.

“We decided to come together with a plan to show a united front, show that we’re all doing basically the same thing to ensure that we could increase our capacity, and that would help give us a little stronger push with the province,” said Dionne.

Under the current restrictions, only nine passengers are allowed on a bus at any given time.

Boosting ridership to 50 per cent of normal capacity would allow for between 17 and 20 passengers on Saint John Transit busts.

Dionne said they expect some pushbacks to mandatory masks but believe the general public is supportive.

“We have people that unfortunately are not able to get on the bus today because of the nine-passenger limit, so wearing a mask, which people are doing in many businesses today anyway, is just really a simple add-on,” he said.

Children under the age of two and those with medical conditions will be exempt from having to wear masks on buses, as per a directive from the province’s chief medical officer of health.

As long as riders are compliant, Dionne said they will increase capacity further as soon as possible, though he noted it is too soon to say when that could happen.

In May, Saint John Transit officials said they could record a deficit of up to $1.2 million if passenger limits were to remain in place for the rest of the year. That is despite the transit system taking steps to cut costs, such as laying off several employees and reducing service hours.

Dionne said staff have not had a chance to update the figured, but added any increase in passengers will help the bottom line at the end of the day.

Effective June 29, 2020 – Masks are required when riding the bus. #SJTransitAlert pic.twitter.com/3iAdmlF1UX

— Saint John Transit (@ThinkTransitSJ) June 22, 2020