Notably harder hit in smaller urban and rural communities are fixed route services. This is no surprise as riders are reluctant to sit shoulder to shoulder, even as many agencies are limiting the number of passengers and have put appropriate social distancing policies in place. Boarding only through the backdoor and blocking off seats are a few common measures introduced to keep driver to rider and rider to rider close contact at bay.

One agency in Alabama has reported that it deploys two buses to each fixed route stop, having a spare “tag along” bus for overflow for additional safety. Despite these measures, many transit directors report deep dips in ridership ranging from 30-90%, prompting transit agencies to drastically reduce service hours or temporarily discontinue fixed route service. One small urban agency in Maryland, for instance, converted a fixed route bus into a demand response one. By doing so, a rider can now call and schedule trips and pick- ups instead of waiting for one on a published schedule. This keeps crowding down and enables agency staff to know how many people are at each stop.

“It just made sense for safety,” said Suzanne Kalmbacher, Transit Chief, Cecil County Transit. “We still have people who need to get to medical and dialysis appointments, but we also wanted to limit gatherings at stops or on buses. Having insight into the number of passengers our drivers would be picking up at each stop was also important. If there were more requests, we’d just send a second bus.”