Grand River Transit

[danbrotherston]

The bars are not closed...contrary to popular opinion, there is no lockdown...the restrictions amount to a few hours shorter operation time.

And yes people are not "forced" to go into bars...which is why we should close bars, but not public transit. One is essential, the other is not.

As for people not wearing masks on public transit, I'm not sure what you mean, there are a tiny fraction of people who have a medical reason, but it seems most folks are simply choosing not too.

Bars are limited to 10 guests, which essentially is a lockdown.

I don’t think transit is much of an issue right now, it seems a lot of people are avoiding using it.

I agree transit does not appear to be a major vector of transmission. I don't know any studies or data from here, but from other places, which are more transit dependent, including Asia and places which have detailed contact tracing, it wasn't a major vector. I suspect a combination of good ventilation and low activity/talking on transit vehicles.

That being said, transit numbers are definitely down, but not as much as you'd think, and with some very interesting but entirely expected patterns.  According to GRT:

Routes which service places like the University and Colleges which are now doing remote learning are down significantly, around half if I recall.

Routes which are mainly used to service jobs, like factories/stores which are usually used by people who a) cannot work from home and b) usually only use transit if they cannot afford a car, are down only a small amount.

Routes in the core, which service both people who can't afford a car, and bourgeois people like me who could drive but choose to take transit because I live in an area well served by transit have decreased ridership somewhere in between those two extremes.

In general, I think they're still seeing a significant fraction of usage, more than 70%. Certainly a decrease but it's not like the system is empty (as some regional councillors felt).