CAPITAL TRANSIT BUS SERVICES UPDATE
APRIL 23, 2020
Capital Transit Passengers,
The staff of Capital Transit/City of Helena would like to say thank you for your patience and understanding of the impacts to our transit service and staff caused by the current COVID-19 pandemic. The goal is to resume full operation as we navigate the phased approach to the “New Normal” as outlined by Governor Bullock on Thursday, April 23, 2020.
In an effort to be responsive to our passengers the staff at Capital Transit/City of Helena hold discussions each week to discuss and identify options that may be useful in an effort to resume all of our services as quickly and safely as possible for our passengers and staff. Based upon the recently issued guidance from the State the following update for our services is provided:
FIXED ROUTE and EAST VALLEY BUS SERVICES: ** SUSPENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE **
Due to available staffing we are not able to resume operation of our Fixed Route and East Helena/East Valley bus services during this segment of State-wide recovery efforts.
Please keep in mind that as we continue to transition further into the recovery and as additional staffing becomes available the “New Normal of these services and still active ADA Paratransit service may include limited/revised hours of operation, alternate routes or partial services or a combination of any of these concepts for service, which is not only needed for staffing but to assure we have time to clean and sanitize the bus’s used each day.
However, as we move forward in our recovery efforts to full operations, Capital Transit has added additional requirements, limitations and restrictions (see below). These additional measures are being implemented as health and safety control measures to assure passenger and Staff safety during the COVID-19 public health emergency. These additional measures are anticipated to remain in place until Phase 3 of the State Recovery Plan.
ADA PARATRANSIT SERVICE: ** NO DISRUPTIONS IN SERVICE **
Currently Staff are to screen all passengers of using Capital Transit Services and under this directive we currently screen all ADA Paratransit Passengers when calling in the setup a ride for either next day or same day ADA Paratransit transportation.
Due to the inability to assure proper and adequate screening of passengers using advanced scheduling options such as the 14-Day in advance or premium ride scheduling option known as reoccurring/subscription scheduling options these options are suspended until phase 3 of the State Recovery Plan.
Finally, as we move forward in our recovery efforts to full operations and anticipated increase in usage created by the lifting of restrictions in Phase 1 of the State Recovery Plan, the additional requirements, limitations and restrictions listed below will be in effect starting Monday, April 27, 2020. As discussed previously these measures are being implemented as health and safety control measures to assure passenger and transit staff safety during the COVID-19 public health emergency and are anticipated to remain in place until Phase 3 of the State Recovery Plan.
TEMPORARY COVID-19 PASSENGER REQUIREMENTS, LIMITATIONS & RESTRICTIONS (EFFECTIVE STARTING MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2020):