The TTC is now blocking off seats to enable social distancing
Despite a drastic drop in ridership since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the TTC has still been struggling with overcrowding on certain bus routes during the morning rush hour.
The transit agency has already introduced several measures to combat this issue including installing barriers to separate drivers from passengers and only allowing boarding through rear doors, but now they're also blocking off some seats on vehicles.
"Just in: To enable physical distancing, TTC has started to block off seats on our vehicles," wrote the TTC Customer Service Twitter account this morning. "We do not have a permanent solution in place yet, so for the time being some seats will be blocked using duct tape or caution tape. Vehicles will be slowly updated."
One Toronto resident shared a photo of this new measure on the 21A bus this morning, saying that it's a good solution that should have been done from the start.
Kudos to the bus driver of 21a this should have been done from the very start pic.twitter.com/s5gSayN822
— shanapple (@appleamd12) April 16, 2020
Another resident shared a photo of seats blocked off with duct tape on the 67A today, calling it "a great initiative with social distancing."
Have to say great initiative with social distancing🙌🏼🙌🏼. Thanks bus 67A keep it coming#covid19#TorontoTransit. pic.twitter.com/1kdOMP2YVN
— Romit Chamriya (@21c7def11f2643b) April 16, 2020
Both photos show a bus where every second seat has been blocked off with tape, ensuring that two people cannot sit next to one another and therefore must maintain the distance necessary to stay safe during the pandemic.
Although riders appear to be impressed with the new initiative thus far, many aren't currently too pleased with the TTC due to the fact that at least 35 TTC bus operators are refusing to return to work because of a lack of personal protective equipment.
So far, at least 17 TTC employees have contracted the 2019 novel coronavirus and another 240 are in self-isolation due to potential exposure.
