The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency announced that it would shift resources away from light rail, starting Monday, and then the Valley Transportation Authority announced it was suspending light rail service in the South Bay immediately.
"Starting Monday, March 30, there will be no more subway or light rail service in San Francisco," reports Alexa Mae Asperin.
"SFMTA announced Thursday that the new changes are happening in response to a decline in ridership amid the virus pandemic and to 'help us focus resources on routes outside of the downtown area.'"
Bus service will replace light rail service on the J, KT, L, M, and N. Full details of the scheduling changes can be found on the Muni website.
While other transit agencies around the country have reduced service in response to decreased demand, Muni was, to our knowledge, the first system in the country to completely suspend operations of rail transit, but, in fact, the Valley Transportation Authority had already suspended light rail service in the South Bay the night before, after a "person being trained as an operator tested positive for the coronavirus," reports Michael Cabanatuan.
"As of Thursday morning, 60 light rail operators and dozens more maintenance staff were placed on leave as the transit agency works to determine more information about the infected employee," according to a separate article by Julian Glover.
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