PRESS RELEASE

YUBA-SUTTER TRANSIT
2100 B STREET, MARYSVILLE, CA  95901

Contact:        Keith Martin or Adam Hansen
Phone:          (530) 634-6880
FAX:               (530) 634-6888

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

YUBA-SUTTER TRANSIT JOINS APTA’S NATIONAL
“HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITMENTS” PROGRAM

January 21, 2021, Marysville, CA – As a sign of our on-going efforts in relation to community safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Yuba-Sutter Transit Board of Directors recently voted to join the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) “Health and Safety Commitments Program”. This program is the public transportation industry’s overarching pledge to our passengers that public transit systems across the nation are taking the necessary measures to operate safely as our country recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The APTA program was developed after asking transit users from across the United States what measures would make them feel more confident riding public transportation amid concerns about COVID-19. From this research, the industry identified four key areas that transit systems need to address to earn riders’ confidence:

• Following public health guidelines from official sources,
• Cleaning and disinfecting transit vehicles frequently and requiring face coverings and other protections,
• Keeping passengers informed, and
• Putting health first by requiring riders and employees to avoid public transit if they have been exposed to COVID-19 or feel ill.

The health and safety of our passengers and employees are always top priorities for Yuba-Sutter Transit. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have worked tirelessly with our service contractor, Storer Transit Systems, to keep both safe from infection from the coronavirus. By signing on to the APTA “Health and Safety Commitments Program”, Yuba-Sutter Transit, along with hundreds of other public transit systems, is actively renewing our commitment to passengers and staff to protect their health and safety and to instill confidence in the steps that we are taking to do so.

Specific actions we are continuing or implementing as we commit to this program include: 

• Continuous adherence to and evaluation by our operations contractor and administration of the policies and practices that have been put in place to minimize the continuing risk to our riders, our employees, and our community,
• Installation of protective driver barriers on buses,
• Daily fogging of buses with disinfectant,
• Frequent cleaning of high touch areas,
• Personal protection equipment for staff,
• On-board passenger capacity limits,
• Encouraging the use of face coverings for passengers with free mask dispensers on local fixed-route buses, and
• Policy and procedural changes on our buses and in our facility have been adjusted over time as conditions warranted.

It must be noted that a key component of the “Health and Safety Commitments Program” is the shared responsibility of employees and riders alike to follow the guidelines that have been put in place for our mutual protection. Our passengers rely on us to follow these commitments, and we rely on our riders to protect themselves and other customers by doing the same.

For more information on our pandemic response, check out the COVID-19 page on our website at www.yubasuttertransit.com, email us at info@yubasuttertransit.com or call our Administration Office at (530) 634-6880.

###