COVID-19 ambassadors helping SFMTA customers utilize transit safely

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is posting yellow-vested ambassadors wearing face masks or coverings to help direct customers to maintain safe physical distance at curbside bus stops and boarding islands along Market Street.

Last week, SFMTA launched its COVID-19 Ambassador Program. Although overall ridership is down, during peak times in certain areas SFMTA says it sometimes still sees crowding at bus stops and on buses. If a bus is too crowded, operators will stop picking up new passengers until there is enough room for more. SFMTA acknowledges that this and other changes are tough on everyone.

That’s where the ambassadors come in. Their aim is to encourage customers to practice good public health behavior throughout the entire Muni experience – waiting, boarding, riding – as well as informing customers about alternatives to Muni like the new ETC discount taxi program for older adults and people with disabilities. They also have information on the temporarily modified routes or can explain why a bus may have just passed up riders.

In some places, the agency added markings on the ground at bus stops to signal where the customers can wait at an appropriate physical distance from one another, just like those at many area supermarkets and other essential businesses.

To encourage customers to give each other space on and off Muni, when buses arrive about half full or more, ambassadors may ask customers to wait for the next bus. And once a bus arrives, the ambassadors remind waiting customers to give space to those offloading, explain that customers are required to wear a cloth face covering or mask and ask customers to maintain physical distance inside the bus throughout their ride.

The agency has also launched new onboard announcements and two social media campaigns encouraging customers to #stayhome and use Muni for #essentialtripsonly. New signs inside Muni buses and ads on the outside of buses are coming soon to remind customers to give space and wear face coverings or masks.

Now that wearing face coverings is a citywide order, customers are required to wear these when riding Muni. Operators may skip stops if those waiting don’t have face coverings. Operators have been instructed that they may also skip stops if the bus is already more than half full to maintain appropriate physical distancing on board.

Though ridership has decreased dramatically thanks to people staying home in observance of the shelter-in-place, Muni continues to serve approximately 100,000 customers daily. These customers are largely hospital workers, social service providers, grocery store workers and other essential workers.