(FORT WORTH, TX – April 24, 2020) – To help reduce the COVID-19 risk for customers and employees, Trinity Metro is extending free fares through Saturday, May 16, on buses, Trinity Metro TEXRail and ACCESS paratransit. This is intended to significantly minimize the amount of contact between operators and customers as well as conductors and riders.
Regular bus service will continue to operate on a modified Sunday schedule seven days a week. Routes that do not operate on Sunday, such as the downtown Lunch Line, 71-Forest Hill and the 991-Juror Shuttle, have been temporarily suspended. The downtown circulator, Molly the Trolley, is not operating through May 31. Express routes 63X/64X and 65X will continue operating on their regular schedules.
Trinity Metro TEXRail is running on an hourly service, which is based upon the regular schedule, seven days a week. Trinity Railway Express (TRE) is operating six days a week based upon its current Saturday schedule, with no service on Sundays.
ACCESS rides will be available for paratransit customers. ZIPZONE services are not impacted by this temporary change.
Social distancing with free fares
On trains, passengers will sit in alternating rows and only in the window seats to maximize the amount of space between customers and between the conductors and riders. Signs or caution tape will be used to designate unavailable seats.
On buses, passengers will continue to board and exit through the back doors to increase social distancing. The front entrance is open for customers using wheelchairs. On the busiest routes, extra operators are ready to pick up passengers in a second bus to limit the number of riders per vehicle. Trinity Metro has reduced seating capacity to 35 percent. The agency will be posting signage on platforms to reinforce appropriate distancing for customers waiting for rides.
Because TRE is a shared service with DART, TRE passengers will need a ticket to ride.
How Trinity Metro is helping
Safeguarding the health and well-being of passengers and employees is Trinity Metro’s top priority. The agency is closely monitoring the rapidly changing
situation and is communicating with local, state and national health authorities to reduce the risk of COVID-19 exposure.
Trinity Metro continues to take extra steps to increase the cleaning frequency of high-touch areas such as door handles, railings, seats and benches with disinfectant throughout each shift. Buses, vans and ACCESS vehicles are sanitized daily. Trinity Metro TEXRail trains are disinfected daily after they have been in service.
Operators, conductors and other staff who interact with the public are using face masks, gloves and hand sanitizer to help safeguard customers and employees.
About Trinity Metro
Trinity Metro is a regional transportation system that provides public transportation to meet the mobility needs in Tarrant County. The agency offers connections throughout the North Central Texas region, annually providing 8 million passenger trips on buses, TEXRail, ACCESS paratransit, vanpools and the Trinity Railway Express (TRE), a 34-mile commuter rail line jointly owned and operated with Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART). Trinity Metro is the sole owner and operator of TEXRail, a 27-mile commuter rail line that runs between downtown Fort Worth and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport’s Terminal B.