FEMA gave the MBTA nearly $10.3 million to cover rail cleaning costs.
You drag yourself on to the 7:44 a.m. train from Mansfield to South Station, the start of your daily rush to the office, and all the train seats are filled. Waiting for another train is not an option, so you sandwich yourself between huddled passengers and hope to make it to your job on time. Boarding a crowded train into Boston has always been a traveler's nightmare. But since early 2020, as millions of people reordered their lives and came to grips with the lingering reality of Covid-19, packed subways have become something more dangerous: a potential health threat.
In June 2020, in the early months of the pandemic, the MBTA initiated the Ride Safer program, a public health campaign to frequently disinfect and sanitize its rail fleet to keep passengers safe from a rapidly-spreading illness. This was not a cheap endeavor. Last July, the MBTA received nearly $10.3 million from FEMA to cover increased cleaning costs. But since pandemic restrictions, like mask mandates, have been lifted in Boston and city residents have adapted to our "new normal," are the trains still as clean as they were during the peak months of the pandemic?
Lisa Battiston, deputy press secretary for the MBTA, says that all fleet vehicles—that includes buses, subways, trolleys, ferries, ride vehicles and the commuter rail—are still cleaned frequently. "All business locations ... are disinfected every 24 hours," wrote Battiston in an email.
In December 2020, then the deadliest month of the pandemic with more than 77,000 fatalities, the MBTA and Massachusetts sports groups began handing out 2,500 face masks and 5,000 hand sanitizer bottles to passengers. Signs reminding travelers to social distance and don their masks (or face a fine) were scattered throughout MBTA locations. "In Boston, we have continuously pleaded with people to not only wear a mask, but avoid gatherings, wash your hands regularly, and get tested periodically," wrote then-Mayor Marty Walsh of Boston. As part of the Ride Safer program, the MBTA also provided public access to crowding data, allowing passengers to view trends and information about stuffed buses and trains in real time.
The T began a $25 million, six-month-long "station brightening" initiative in April 2019.
At the launch of the Ride Safer program, according to Battiston, the T began a vigorous cleaning of the rail fleet, including disinfecting "high-touch locations," scouring vehicles in which Covid cases were reported, washing the cars in the middle of the day and overnight, and utilizing "electrostatic fogging" to completely sanitize the fleet every other week.
At the launch of the Ride Safer program, according to Battiston, the T began a vigorous cleaning of the rail fleet.
While Battiston stated that these protocols were enacted in 2020, it was unclear if all the same measures are still taking place. She directed me to more information via the MBTA website, while Boston Carmen's Union Local 589, which represents rail workers, directed me to the T press office.
One rail worker and a conductor at the Mansfield station told me they were unsure how frequently the rail fleet was disinfected, but a conductor at the Ruggles station, who declined to give his name, laughed at the current cleaning protocols, saying they are less rigorous than at the start of the pandemic. "Now, they just go by with spray bottles [on the train]," he said.
The T hired contractors to clean 171 bus routes, four "rapid transit routes" and Boston's four subway lines.
The MBTA, in response to a question about who exactly oversees the cleaning process, said that the Superintendent of Cleaning and Maintenance Systems is tasked with hiring contractors to clean the rail fleet.
"Now, they just go by with spray bottles [on the train]"—An MBTA conductor on cleaning protocols
"MBTA supervisors conduct inspections of the cleaning to ensure compliance with MBTA cleaning and disinfecting requirements," wrote the press office via email.A July 2022 press release from FEMA confirms that the T hired contractors to clean 171 bus routes, four "rapid transit routes" and Boston's four subway lines.
In addition to efforts to ongoing efforts to disinfect the trains, the MBTA has also engaged in a "station brightening" project to give a face lift to worn stations and busways. According to Boston Magazine, the T launched a $25 million brightening program in April 2019, focusing its six-month term on Back Bay, Downtown Crossing and other stations.
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