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Page A-.1 4 Shelton-Mason County Journal Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021
MTA already meets new COVID safety standards
By Journal staff
news@masoncounty. com
The state Department of Health
recently issued a new set of COV-
ID-19 guidelines for transportation
agencies, but Mason Transit Author-
ity already met most of those safety
standards.
“We were already living up to all
the latest requirements, except for
having a physical barrier between
passengers and the driver,” MTA
General Manager Danette Brannin
said.
Brannin told the Shelton-Mason
County Journal that MTA is install-
ing permanent plexiglass barriers,
and has installed clear curtains to
serve as temporary barriers in the ,
meantime.
Brannin praised the new state
guidelines, which she said will “clari—
fy industry standards and help us all
ride safely,” but at the same time, she
emphasized the rigor and quality of
the MTA’s existing safety standards.
“We have intensely focused on
cleaning, physical distancing and
wearing face coverings since last
spring,” Brannin said. “Personal safe-
ty is the priority.”
Brannin said that face coverings
are required for all employees, riders
and others in MTA vehicles and fa-
cilities, including the transit commu-
nity center in Shelton, and are made
available to riders who don’t have
their own face masks.
Hand sanitizer stations are in-
stalled on all MTA vehicles, includ—
ing the front and rear doors of bus-
es, while new barriers and protocols
have been established in an effort
to maintain physical distancing on
MTA vehicles, and in the transit com-
munity center.
Riders enter and exit at the rear
of the buses whenever possible, with
bus rows and seats blocked off to en-
sure safe distances for those riders as
well, Brannin said.
“If a bus is full, another bus or ve-
hicle will be dispatched to pick up the
riders who are still waiting at a stop,”
Brannin said. “We are very careful to
ensure no riders are left behind when
buses fill up.”
Brannin cited preventative mea—
sures such as daily employee health
screenings and cleanings of “high-
touch” surfaces on vehicles as helping
keep MTA riders safe.
“We have a COVID-19 coordinator
who helps monitor employee health
and enforce our safety plan,” Brannin
said. “Our team is committed to pas-
senger safety.”
MTA is continuing to limit the
number of riders scheduled for each
Dial-a-Ride trip, which should make
I the shared rides both safer and fast-
er, while its fare-free rides within
Mason County not only allow riders
to save on pocket change, but also
help lower the risk of spreading the
disease because tickets or cash don’t
change hands.
Dial—A-Ride
offers door-to-
destination service
Dial-A—Ride uses accessible 14-16
passenger shuttle vans, allowing no
more than four passengers to ensure
safe social distancing.
The service is an on-demand ride-
share — users call and schedule rides
and shuttles typically pick up several
people before delivering them to their
destinations.
Reservation requests can be made
on the same day or up to two weeks
in advance. ‘
“Dial-A-Ride is meant for people
who need that door-to—destination
service, or who are going somewhere
not along a regular bus route,” Bran—
nin said.
“We help people get to appoint-
ments, jobinterviews and shopping.
You name it, and we’ll take you there,
as long as it’s in Mason County and
our shuttles can safely get there.”
For more information, or to sched-
ule a'Dial-A—Ride, call 360-427-5033
or go to www.masontransit.org/
dialarideandlinkservice.
. Riders for out-of—county' trips can
purchase tickets online or through
the Token Transit mobile app, al-
though the fare box is still available
for out—of-county trips.
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