Metra riders have always expected fast, reliable and safe service, but the definition of safe has taken on a whole new meaning in the time of COVID-19.
Since the start of the pandemic, we have reviewed everything about how we operate and looked for ways to do it better and provide our customers with the safest possible experience.
“We know the importance of providing a clean, healthy experience on our platforms and on our trains, and we know we have to promote safe and healthy practices, such as social distancing and wearing masks” said Metra CEO/Executive Director Jim Derwinski. “We want you to feel safe and confident using our service.”
Here are 10 reasons you can Commute with Confidence on Metra:
1. The cars have never been cleaner. We spent the spring deep cleaning our more than 1,000 railcars and Metra Electric Highliners with high-pressure power washers, steamers and other disinfectants.
2. We’re committed to keeping them clean and safe. We’ve adopted a new regimen to clean, sanitize, disinfect and inspect all cars at least once a day, with an extra emphasis on disinfecting high-touch areas as frequently as possible, including with new electrostatic disinfecting foggers. Our intention is to maintain the cleanliness we have achieved by deep cleaning, and we want to exceed industry standards for sanitation.
3. Stations are also clean and safe. We are cleaning Metra-maintained stations multiple times a week, paying special attention to disinfecting high-touch surfaces, and we are using extra crews to increase the cleaning and disinfecting of downtown stations. And we have asked the municipalities or other entities that maintain the stations in their communities to do the same.
4. You can breathe freely. Metra railcars are equipped with hospital-grade MERV-13 filters to keep the air clean. In addition, the HVAC system on railcars cleans and replaces the air on cars 15 times an hour.
5. Masks or face coverings are a must for the entirety of the ride on our trains, and we are reinforcing that message with plenty of signs, announcements and reminders. We need everyone to cooperate and help us help keep everyone safe
6. There’s plenty of room to spread out. We are asking everyone to practice social distancing, and we are similarly reinforcing that message with signs and announcements. Please, no more than one person per two-seater, unless you are travelling with a family member.
7. We’ve launched a ridership dashboard to show how many riders are on our trains to help you make informed decisions about your trip. Find it here. We’ll add cars to trains or trains to schedules to maintain that space as long as we can.
8. We’ll wait in stations longer. We want everyone to stay in their seats and not crowd the aisles and vestibules before getting off at your station. So please stay seated until your stop – and we’ll give you plenty of time to get off.
9. We’ve installed two new touchless hand sanitizer dispensers in every car. Our bathrooms already had dispensers.
10. You can use the Ventra app to buy and display tickets, which will eliminate close interactions with crews and keep everyone safer. (And the app got an upgrade this fall – see details here.)
The safety and health of our customers and employees is our top priority. We promise you we are doing everything we can to assure a safe commute, and we promise to stay on top of the latest trends and emerging technologies to make improvements whenever and wherever we can.