Greater Lafayette transit company CityBus announced a bus driver tested positive for COVID-19 Friday.
The driver last worked on Wednesday, April 15. City Bus outlined recent bus routes for any impacted passengers:
-April 11: 6A South Fourth Street, 6B South Ninth Street
-April 14, 15: 7 South Street, 3 Lafayette Square
“We have shared this information with our employees,” said CityBus development manager Bryce Gibson. “We have tracked back the steps of this individual these past two weeks to identify who’s had close contact, and we’ve asked people who have had close contact to self-quarantine for 14 days.”
The driver wore personal protective equipment while driving, and CityBus recently installed Plexiglas barriers on busses between drivers and riders. The company has also stopped fare collection to minimize person-to-person contact, implemented stricter cleaning measures for vehicles, and cut bus routes.
Gibson said the combination of the stay-at-home order and Purdue’s campus closures have driven ridership numbers down significantly.
“When Purdue’s in session, we provide between 24 and 28,000 trips a day,” Gibson said. “We’re currently doing between 1,500 to 2,000 trips a day.”
But Gibson also said lower ridership numbers ultimately kept the community safer and healthier.
“We’re encouraging people who are making essential trips to do so, when they need to,” Gibson said. “But otherwise we want to discourage people from riding the bus whenever possible.”