MTA Buses Soon Will Resume Front Boarding, Fare Collection

NEW YORK CITY — Free rides on MTA buses during the coronavirus pandemic soon will end as the transit agency literally reopens long-closed doors.

Front boarding on buses will resume Aug. 31, MTA announced Tuesday. The agency moved to rear boarding in March as a safety feature to protect its drivers from COVID-19.

The measure also made bus travel in New York City effectively free because passengers couldn't pay their fares in the front.

Sarah Feinberg, interim president of New York City Transit, painted the return to front boarding as both step toward normalcy and a continued safety measures.

"Front-door boarding is a crucial step as we continue to support the reopening of New York City by making sure our buses have more space to socially distance and our bus operators are fully protected," she said in a statement.

Opening up buses' front area will give passengers 40 percent more space to social distance, a release states. MTA also plans to install polycarbonate sliders and vinyl curtains to protect drivers on 4,800 local buses by the fall, along with curtains on 1,000 express buses, according to the release.

"The MTA continues to block off the front two rows on express buses to allow distance between riders and the bus operator," the release states.

MTA projects it will lose $431 million in revenue from the pandemic, just based on the drop in ridership, the release states. If it collected fares from riders during the pandemic, those would have totaled $159 million, according to the release.