![]() Stephens learned New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority allows passengers to open windows on its buses and enforces a $50 fine for not wearing a mask. He was told windows can’t be opened because doing so would disturb “optimal humidity levels.” CTA media relations similarly said windows on CTA buses can’t be opened. “Why aren’t passengers allowed this measure of protection during the pandemic?”Īfter six weeks of contacting the CTA feedback team by email, Stephens said, he finally got an answer. “Every time I attempt to open a transom window on the bus, it’s locked or disabled,” Stephens wrote in an email to the Chicago Transit Authority. About three weeks ago, Stephens tried to open a window on the bus to reduce the risk, and a driver yelled at him. In addition to masks, air flow decreases the risk of infection. “Either way, you’re putting my drivers in a confrontational situation.” ![]() “It doesn’t matter if we request passengers to wear a mask or if we don’t,” Hill said. Hill said it’s an uphill fight when he and his drivers confront passengers without a mask. Keith Hill, president of the Local 241 Amalgamated Transit Union, has been working as a CTA bus driver for 23 years and confirmed that the CTA technically requires masks but doesn’t enforce a mask policy. “Unfortunately we’ve seen far too many examples from our transit peers across the country in which a transit employee was assaulted and/or attacked after asking a customer to put on a mask,” said Ferradaz. When Stephens attempted to enter the bus with his shirt on and without a mask, however, he was let on without a problem.ĬTA Media Representative Irene Ferradaz said CTA requires all employees and customers to wear masks on CTA property, but CTA does not require employees to risk their personal safety to confront someone not wearing a mask. First, he attempted to ride the bus shirtless wearing a mask, but he wasn’t allowed to board. He tried a slightly unorthodox experiment one day to prove a point he’d been making in emails to the agency. Gary Stephens, 64, a grant writer who lives in Lakeview, doesn’t work for the CTA, but he’s had the same worries as Trice. But front-door boarding was soon reinstated once additional measures were put into place like facial covering for drivers and roped-off seating areas. On June 21, passengers were directed to board and exit through the rear doors of all CTA buses to protect bus operators, according to the CTA’s “An Essential Key to Recovery” plan. “If I am required to wear a mask, my passengers should too,” he continued. “We are essential workers, and the number of people who ride the bus each day is putting our lives at risk.” Trice said he gets at least five mask-less riders a day, which means he is exposed to about 25 mask-less riders in a given work week. With COVID-19 cases at an all-time high in Chicago and across the state, the CTA declined to provide the number of COVID-19 cases documented among its workers.Īccording to the CTA, a standard 40-foot bus that Trice drives is allowed 15 passengers. Pace, a suburban bus system outside Chicago, reported 152 confirmed COVID-19 cases among Pace drivers, according to its website. Research from New York University suggests nearly a quarter of New York City transit workers have COVID-19. And if mask requirements were to be enforced, Trice worries that drivers could be physically threatened if they deny passengers entry. But the transit agency’s policy is that employees shouldn’t confront unmasked riders. ![]() He’s in a tricky situation: CTA drivers are at risk of contracting the virus when passengers do not wear masks. “A lot of passengers do not wear masks and they argue with me if I tell them to.” “It makes me really nervous,” said Trice. ![]() Trice has served as an essential worker for over 20 years and continues to drive the 62 Chicago bus on Mondays and the 67 Chicago bus, which runs through South Shore, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. “They call me the happiest guy in town,” said Cedric Trice, 54, a veteran bus driver for the CTA, during an interview at South Lake Park Avenue and Hyde Park Boulevard. The day seemed to fit the odd year - sunny and 75 in November, sweater and shorts, masks and hand sanitizer, and a CTA worker smiling. ![]()
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