BOSTON (WHDH) - The MBTA has deployed cleaning crews in an effort to disinfect transit stations, buses, subway cars, paratransit vehicles, and commuter rail trains amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
MBTA officials say crews will be scrubbing down “contact areas” every four hours to guard against the potentially deadly virus.
The effort was first announced by MBTA General Manager Steven Poftak during a news conference Wednesday at the State House.
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“This is something we’ve been planning for in collaboration with the governor’s office and with the guidance of the Department of Public Health, we’ve obviously ramped up our communication system with the communications that come from the governor’s office and DPH,” Poftak said.
In addition to using electronic messaging signs and physical messaging signs to promote “common-sense good personal hygiene steps,” Poftak said the agency will sanitize equipment installed in all MBTA facilities, including fare vending machines, fare gates, and railings on stairs and escalators, in addition to the various transit vehicles and trains.
“For instance, guard rails, handrails, fare equipment — will be cleaned every four hours,” Poftak said. “And subject to getting enough disinfectant in place, we will be moving to a protocol where we will be disinfecting every vehicle every day. Right now we have enough equipment on hand to be doing that on the commuter rail, we expect by the end of this week to be able to do it across the system, buses, subway cars, and paratransit vehicles.”
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New York City has already started cleaning subway trains and buses in an effort to guard against the potentially deadly virus.
The first coronavirus case in Massachusetts was reported weeks ago. Since then, one presumptive positive case has been reported.
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