COVID Illnesses Requires Reduction of MBTA Commuter Rail Service

To many employees are sick with COVID for Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter rail to operate on its normal schedule.

1 minute read

December 11, 2020, 7:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

LnP images / Shutterstock

"Keolis Commuter Services, the company that operates [Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority] commuter rail, is temporarily reducing service by more than half due to low employee availability because of COVID-19 absences," reports Amanda Kaufman.

The MBTA Commuter Rail system will start its altered schedule on Monday.

The news of the system's system reductions are a tragic departure from the typical pandemic-related service reduction—either due to declining ridership or declining revenue, but transit operators were particularly prone to infection during the early days of the pandemic, in New York City in particular. Sound Transit in Seattle also announced service reductions earlier this month due to high numbers of ill employees.

Thursday, December 10, 2020 in The Boston Globe

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