rts

The Regional Transit Service has extended its temporary fare waiver through April 29 to coincide with the extension of the state's shutdown order.

The bus service initially waived fares on March 19 through April 19, with the idea being to keep public transportation available for those who need it and cut riders a financial break during a health crisis that has robbed many of their livelihoods.

Regional Transit Service, the public bus system for Rochester and its suburbs, was supposed to launch new bus routes with more frequent service on June 29, along with some other operational changes.

Now, the effort is on indefinite hold.

On Friday, RTS officials announced it would delay the implementation of the redesign, known as Reimagine RTS, for the foreseeable future, citing complications stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

The morning rush-hour bus from Webster to downtown Rochester was running mostly empty the other day, and that was just fine by Tracy Wyatt, one of the handful of passengers.

“You see people on the bus coughing without covering their mouths,” said Wyatt, who waited for an afternoon bus home at the Transit Center that afternoon wearing a makeshift mask she fashioned out of a scarf. “It’s a little frightening.”

Monroe County no longer has enough testing capacity to keep up with the demand for diagnosing COVID-19, public health commissioner Dr. Michael Mendoza said at a press conference on Wednesday.

“In the last two days, we’ve had a large spike in demand,” Mendoza said, adding that the health department would need to prioritize the processing of some people’s specimens but could not yet give details about how those decisions will be made.

Regional Transit Service bus riders will soon be able to board buses without cash or passes.

The public transit agency is aiming to launch a cashless, mobile payment system for riders in April. RTS spokesperson Tom Brede told CITY the new option will work through the agency’s app and online accounts linked to a source of funds, such as a bank account, enabling riders to pay their fares as they board by scanning a code displayed on their smartphone screens.

Officials at RTS have announced a new fare structure for military veterans, seniors and people with disabilities.

One of the changes involves the 50-cent half-price fare for seniors and people with disabilities that is currently in effect only during non-peak hours. 

With the new fare structure, that half-price fare would be in effect all day.

Also, with the new plan, military veterans would ride the bus for free.

Rochester’s Regional Transit Service has begun training its employees in a potentially lifesaving response to opioid overdoses.

Transit service workers are learning how to administer naloxone, often sold under the brand name Narcan, which can reverse an overdose.

The agency’s public information officer, Tom Brede, said it’s a reflection of how the opioid epidemic has become a “community crisis.”

“We’re not the emergency medical response,” Brede said, “but we do have a role.”

Rochester's Regional Transit Service is one stage closer to finishing a multiple year-long overhaul, Reimagine RTS. The transformation includes changes to bus routes, frequency and streamlining the schedule so users who ride during the week can rely on that same route on the weekends as well.