Texas A&M Transit System issues new rider policy in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19

KXXV

By Halle Jones

Published July 1, 2020

COLLEGE STATION, TX — As Texas A&M gears up to welcome students back to campus, the Aggie Transit System is working to keep students safe and healthy.

“I use it pretty much every day,” says TAMU student Marshall Shake.

As an essential service for the university, the transit system has been operating throughout the pandemic.

“We are monitoring the information that is provided to us by the city, local, state, and federal guidelines and the mandates,” said TAMU Transportation Services Melissa Bubela.

This fall, students have a new amended rider policy they must follow. Riders are required to wear face coverings, practice social distancing and enter and exit through the rear door. There is also a capacity limit of 20 riders.

“We are remaining flexible. We want to ensure that we are following these guidelines and doing the best that we can to tailor our services so that we can provide safe means of travel,” said Bubela.

To maintain sanitation of the fleet of 96 buses, Aggie Transit System requires drivers to disinfect the buses multiple times while on their shift. The system has also hired an outside cleaning service.

“We are actually going to be doing a weekly disinfecting using vital oxide. So we have a service that is coming in, and they will continue to do that on a weekly basis,” explained Bubela.

On average, the Aggie Transit sees 50,000 riders a day during the school year. While there is no telling what this fall will look like, students are expecting to see close to the same.

“I know a lot of people rely on it and a lot of people use it to get to class, use it from their apartments from where they live to get to campus. I know it saves them a lot of money on parking and it's pretty convenient,” said Shake.

As things are constantly changing, Aggie Transit says what they are doing today can look very different tomorrow depending on the mandates in place on the local, state, and federal levels, but riders health and safety are the top priority.

Texas A&M says their other transportation services, such as bike-share, are also available along with parking permits for those who may want to drive their own vehicles. Parking permit registration is open now until July 8th.

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