Thousands of people have avoided taking transit amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The province, for now, has exempted buses and SeaBus from the 50-person gathering limit with TransLink saying there’s “no indication that shutting down public transit in Metro Vancouver would be an appropriate course of action at this stage.”
Dr. Bonnie Henry has called on TransLink to impose regulations to limit the amount of people on buses.
The transit authority has hit social media with advertisements with the message it is closely monitoring the situation and remains in contact with regional health authorities and other transit agencies in order to determine best practices and ensure the response is appropriate.
“At this time, we have not been directed to make any operational changes, however, we are all taking steps to ensure a high standard of cleanliness is maintained in order to reduce any potential risk of viral spread,” TransLink states.
Starting today, bus passengers are asked to board buses using rear doors only.
TransLink also says bus riders won’t have to pay fares until further notice, but fares still apply to other modes of transit including SeaBus.
Here’s recent system-wide numbers provided by TransLink:
Tuesday, March 17
-52% below the same day in 2019
Total boardings on Tuesday, March 17: 684,000
Monday, March 16
-38% below the same day in 2019
Total boardings on Monday, March 16: 843,000
Sunday, March 15
-29% below the same day in 2019
Total boardings on Sunday, March 15: 552,000
Saturday, March 14
-23% below the same day in 2019
Total boardings on Saturday, March 14: 726,000
Friday, March 13
-17% below the same day in 2019
Total boardings on Friday, March 13: 1,213,000
Thursday, March 12
-7% below the same day in 2019
Total boardings on Thursday, March 12: 1,312,000
Specifically for Tuesday, March 17:
Total Boardings were -52% below the same day in 2019
Total Bus Boardings were -48% below same day in 2019
Total Expo/Millennium Line Boardings were -54% below the same day in 2019
Total Canada Line Boardings were -59% below the same day in 2019
Total SeaBus Boardings were -69% below the same day in 2019
Total WCE Boardings were -70% below the same day in 2019
PLEASE NOTE: A Boarding represents each time a passenger enters a fare paid zone using Compass fare media or other proof of payment. Transfers are counted as additional boardings.
Boardings are available as a system total and by transit mode. This does not represent an amount of people, given that most riders have more than one boarding per journey and more than one journey per day.