MTA officials are considering “reserved seating” for buses and subways to continue social distancing procedures once the lockdown is lifted.
The New York Post reports MTA Chairman and CEO Pat Foye discussed the idea during a business panel with CRAIN earlier today and said the MTA is going over several ideas to maintain social distancing after the lockdown is over.
RELATED STORIES: Mother Violently Arrested After Dispute With NYPD Over Face Mask
“In that scenario customers, at least for some period of time, would be asked to make a reservation. That is not something we’ve made a decision on; we’re not close to making a decision.”
Foye also acknowledged that the proposed system would cause a lot of complications in New York City and would have to use the OMNY payment system.
“Obviously, a reservation system would have all sorts of complications here in New York, given 472 [subway] stations and, pre-pandemic, millions of passengers.”
RELATED STORIES: TikTok Prankster Slammed By MTA For Trashing Train, NYPD Investigating
Foye’s primary concern is securing more federal funding for the MTA in order for the subway and bus system to run efficiently again.
“Increasing transit service when the government begins to lift New York on PAUSE downstate is going to be incredibly important to the recovery of New York City and the New York City region. It can’t happen without a robust and reliable and safe service by the MTA. “The regional economy’s and frankly the national economy’s recovery will be slowed and stunted if the MTA doesn’t get federal funding … but also if we’re not able to restore service in the way I just described,”