Madison Metro posted on its Facebook page that it is making sure "buses are clean and disinfected for passengers and drivers."
A Madison Metro driver has tested positive for COVID-19. Transit general manager Natalie Erdman, in an email obtained by Isthmus, informed Metro employees on March 25. She says Madison and Dane County Public Health believe it is "unlikely that the driver contracted the virus" from a passenger.
“What they can tell us is that the operator last worked on March 17, 18, and 19 on a split shift,” wrote Erdman. “If you were working on those days and happened to be in close contact with the operator, you may have been exposed.”
Madison Metro employees emailed a petition to Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and Erdman March 23 with the subject line, “DEMANDS FROM WORKERS AT MADISON METRO TRANSIT.”
“The coronavirus pandemic has thrown the city and our lives into a full-blown crisis….People need essential services like transit, groceries, and medical care. The workers providing these services are having our health and our families’ health at risk every time we walk through the door,” states the petition signed by Metro employees. “We are on the frontline and we are being asked to hold this city together. Without us, many will not get what they need to survive.
We’re being asked to be on the frontlines but we’re not being treated like the emergency workers we’re told we are. Morale is not good.”
Metro workers demanded that passengers, except those in wheelchairs, use the rear door exclusively to keep drivers at a safe distance from passengers — this meant that rider fees would have to be waived. The city implemented that policy the next day.
Workers also requested hazard pay, masks and gloves “as soon as they are available,” temporary safety shields in front of drivers, and Tyvek suits for workers disinfecting and servicing buses.
Metro has steadily ramped up measures since a public health emergency was declared because of the coronavirus pandemic. It reduced its routes down to a modified Saturday schedule on March 16.
City employees, including Metro workers, had presented an earlier petition to the mayor and city council on March 16. It demanded more safety equipment for city workers still interacting with the public as well as sick pay for workers affected by the coronavirus. Rhodes-Conway announced an additional two weeks of emergency leave time for all city employees the same day.
Erdman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
[Editor’s note: This story will be updated once more information is available.]
