MONTREAL -- The STM is cleaning all buses and trains daily and will not cancel or alter services in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak and scare.
In a news conference Friday, STM CEO Luc Tremblay said all bus and metro schedules will remain in place and announced that extra steps have been taken to ensure transit cleanliness.
"The STM has reviewed and accelerated its cleaning procedures, ensuring increased frequency of trains and buses," he said.
Social gatherings greater than 250 are cancelled, yet the Montreal metro will stay open. STM will clean metros and busses to once per day, passengers are encouraged to ride off peak hours. Please, do not ride if symptomatic. @CTVMontreal pic.twitter.com/qd646xcSon
— Emily Campbell (@ECampbellCTV) March 13, 2020
The following cleaning measures have been implemented:
- Daily cleaning of the most used surfaces in stations (e.g., handrails, fare vending machines, elevators)
- Daily cleaning of handrails and poles on trains in operation
- Disinfection of poles, straps and handles on buses, with dedicated resources at each bus garage and on all shifts (day, evening, night)
Tremblay also responded to suggestions the STM could not clean vehicles daily.
"We never said that," he said. "We always said that from a train perspective, we went from cleaning once every five or six weeks to once a week, and then after that we said we were going to clean our trains every day," said Tremblay. "It was the same thing for our buses. It was a little bit mixed up, but that was always what we said in the media."
He said the STM has extended its cleaning resources to taxis that need it.
The STM has a special page dedicated to the COVID-19 virus for customers wanting extra information.
The STM has also cancelled all large internal corporate events and is prohibiting all business and non-essential personal travel outside of Quebec for its employees.
Tremblay added that users experiencing flu-like symptoms should avoid public transit.
