VTA To Resume Collecting Fares, Citing Improving COVID-19 Numbers

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — The Valley Transportation Authority will resume collecting fares on April 1, citing the improving situation around COVID-19 and safety precautions that are in place.

The transportation company, which runs in Santa Clara County, will also resume front-door boarding on buses. VTA had stopped collecting fares temporarily and implemented rear-door boarding due to the pandemic. It was also offering free rides around the county to COVID-19 vaccination sites.

Transit workers became eligible to receive the vaccine on Mar. 15 in the county. As eligibility for vaccinations expands to larger sectors of the population, transit workers in the region have pushed to be prioritized because they have been working on the frontlines throughout the pandemic.

"I feel like it's Christmas in March," said Glenn Hendricks, VTA's board chair, in a news release this month. "Protecting VTA workers through vaccination adds one more layer of protection for our customers, employees, and their families and loved ones."

In a news release earlier this week, VTA officials said that “several hundred” transit workers were vaccinated the first week through an arrangement with Santa Clara County Public Health Officials.

The VTA added that safeguards such as limited capacity, social distancing and mask wearing are still mandatory on its buses, and permanent operator partitions are being installed.