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C Line Shuts Down Temporarily As More MTA Workers Test Positive for COVID-19
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Mar 23, 2020
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By
Stephen Nessen
Published Mar 23, 2020
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While the MTA has pledged to continue running regular service during the coronavirus pandemic to get essential workers to work, COVID-19 has other plans.
On Monday morning the MTA stopped running C trains after an employee tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The MTA sent several workers home to consult with the MTA’s in-house office doctor.
The A train made local C train stops during the suspension.
“We continue to aggressively disinfect workplaces around the clock as per our protocol,” MTA spokesperson Abbey Collins said in a statement. “As a result, C train service is suspended this morning and we are running local A service. We expect service to be restored this afternoon. We are moving the healthcare workers, first responders and other essential employees on the frontlines of this crisis. We thank the 75,000 brave men and women who continue to do their jobs and show us the very best of New York.”
The MTA follows New York State testing guidelines in which testing for COVID-19 is restricted to people who’ve come in contact with someone who has tested positive, someone has traveled to a country with a Level 2 or 3 alert, or other cases in which a doctor deems it necessary, according to protocols reviewed by Gothamist.
On Monday, MTA Chairman Pat Foye said 30 MTA workers had tested positive for the coronavirus. Foye said the MTA will continue to run regular service.
“We've been in constant dialogue with union leaders on subways, buses, Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road. And as I mentioned, transit workers are coming up to work, showing up the work, to carry first responders to and from their jobs as they did after 9/11 and as they did after Superstorm Sandy,” Foye said, speaking on PIX 11.
The MTA has also begun doing rear door boarding on 4,200 out of the 5,600 buses on local routes. This is an effort to protect bus drivers from passengers getting too close. Still, passengers in wheelchairs will still enter through the front door of the bus.
Foye said the MTA doesn’t “expect to collect much revenue on the local routes,” during this time.
The agency also announced Monday, in an effort to reduce interactions with the public, that on Tuesday it will stop all cash transactions at ticket booths except for reduced-fare purchases. Workers may still be able to provide change and if a machine is out of service, workers may still step in to help.
Tagged
COVID-19
we the commuters
coronavirus
subway
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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