TORONTO -- Face masks will be mandatory for passengers onboard GO Transit vehicles, including the UP Express, beginning Tuesday.
The decision was announced by Metrolinx in a news release issued on Friday.
The announcement comes as more regions across the Greater Toronto Area implement the mandatory use of a facial covering for those attending indoor public spaces.
“As the GTA starts to prepare itself for Stage 3 of the recovery, we are seeing many more customers return to our GO and UP services,” Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster said. “With that in mind and your safety in mind, we are making face coverings mandatory on all our services.”
Verster said drivers of their transit vehicles have been wearing face masks for the last several months.
“In terms of our enforcement, of our requirement of people to wear face coverings, we will focus on education rather than enforcement,” he added. “Our employees will help customers on buses and trains if they haven’t got face coverings and we will ensure that no one will be left behind.”
Earlier this month, the transit agency announced that it had started installing clear plastic dividers between seats on some of its buses and trains.
So far, the dividers have been installed on 30 GO buses and six GO trains.
The use of face masks and the plastic dividers are two of the 40 measures Metrolinx says they are implementing to help limit the spread of COVID-19.
Facial coverings have been mandatory onboard all TTC vehicles since July 1.
Mask use is encouraged by health officials in any setting where people cannot maintain at least two metres of distance between one another.
