The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County has suspended all Park & Ride routes, except those serving the Texas Medical Center, and has made other adjustments to its bus and rail schedules, effective March 30, the transit agency announced.
This comes as two employees with the transit provider tested positive for COVID-19, according to a March 29 news release. The first employee works in the METROLift dispatch area, and was last on the job March 26. They did not interact with the public, according to the announcement. The second employee is a bus operator and was lost on the job March 25. The operator drove the 412 Greenlink Circulator Route from 6 a.m. to 2:17 p.m. on these days: March 9,10, 11,12, 13, 16, 17,18,19, 20 and 23. They also drove the 247 Fuqua Park & Ride from 6:18 a.m. to 9:17 a.m. on March 24 and 25.
“METRO is working with public health officials so they can identify and notify anyone who rode the bus on these routes in the last 14 days,” the transit provider said in the news release.
The modified service list is one in a string of changes METRO has made in efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the Greater Houston area. Since March 20, the provider has encouraged social distancing on its buses through placing tags on bus and rail routes to reduce the number of available seats by 50 percent, as well as adding vehicles on heavily traveled routes. On March 23, METRO began back-door boarding, and temporarily suspended collecting fares to avoid unnecessary contacts.
