San Francisco Boosts Public Transportation Cleaning

As businesses and events are reopening across the country this summer, transit services are increasing their service hours as well. San Francisco, California’s public transit system will extend its operating hours and add more funding for increased cleaning services in its new budget, according to Mass Transit Magazine.

San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) board of directors approved its 2022 fiscal year budget of US$2.44 billion, which takes effect on July 1. The budget funding relies heavily on emergency federal support from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA). The budget will extend funding for car and station cleaning services while increasing the presence of safety staff in the system, according to the news release.

The funding initiatives include:

• Hiring 50 new part-time and 17 new full-time workers to clean cars and help ensure trains are dispatched free of debris and with clean seats
• Adding 22 new part-time cleaners to enhance station cleaning. Restroom cleanliness and appearance will be prioritized with dedicated cleaning staff at stations
• Upgrading all train ventilation systems with the installation of new MERV-14 air filters.

“This budget will allow us to increase the traditional cleaning of trains and stations as well as promote important safety initiatives,” said Bob Power, BART general managers. “I’m confident that as riders return, they’ll find the system is in better shape than what they remember before the pandemic.”