Mayor John Tory has now made it mandatory for TTC riders to wear a face mask onboard the transit system.
The new policy will be in effect on July 2nd if it is formally approved by the TTC board in a meeting next week. At this point, the TTC is not planning to issue fines or refuse entry to anyone.
Mayor John Tory also announced a campaign to distribute one million non-medical masks to TTC riders. The primary focus of this campaign will be paid to lower-income neighbourhoods.
TTC ridership decreased approximately 85 percent since the Covid-19 outbreak but is now slowly increasing as the province gradually reopens. However, that inflates the difficulty of maintaining social distancing on crowded buses, streetcars and subway.
“We look forward to welcoming everyone back and I want to make sure that people know that our system is safe for both customers and employees but as we move towards that recovery physical distancing is simply not going to always be possible, especially on our bus fleet,” TTC CEO Rick Leary acknowledged during Thursday’s press conference. “That is why it will be more important than ever to wear a face-covering on the TTC.”
Leary said about 50 to 60 percent of the riders already wear face coverings. He showed optimism towards the rest to follow suit.
A similar policy is already been announced in Mississauga, Brampton and Hamilton.
Infectious disease expert Dr.Isaac Bogoch says, “Here are situations where people are going to be congregating in an indoor environment with lots of people close together. Even with our best efforts to physically distance on transit it just might not be possible, so I am a firm believer of wearing masks there.”
Written By: Aldrin Gomes.
Comentários