The union for bus and light-rail operators at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority says it wants the district to go back to rear-door boarding amid a spike in COVID-19 cases among members.
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 says a total of 162 VTA employees have tested positive for the coronavirus, including 56 in December and about 60 so far this month. John Courtney, president of Local 265, said more than 90% of cases throughout the agency have occurred among his union's members.
Courtney said Local 265 met with VTA officials last week to request that the district reinstate rear-door boarding, a measure that limits contact between passengers and operators. But so far, he said, VTA management hasn't acted on the request.
"And there is really only one reason," Courtney said. "It's for money. It's not for anything else."
VTA and virtually every other transit agency in the region adopted rear-door boarding as a safety measure at the outset of the pandemic last spring. But boarding passengers at the rear door of buses generally means no fares are collected. In the case of VTA, rear-door boarding cost the agency upwards of $1 million a month in lost passenger revenue. VTA stopped the practice in August.
In a statement Friday, VTA acknowledged an "uptick" in COVID-19 cases among agency workers but said those who tested positive make up "a small percentage" of the agency's 2,000 or so employees. The increase in infections "is sadly consistent with the community trend associated with recent holiday gatherings," the statement added.
The agency said it's working on a formal response to the union's rear-door boarding proposal.