AC TRANSIT RESTORES ONBOARD FACE MASKS REQUIREMENT ON ALL BUS LINES

The face mask requirement takes effect at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, June 3, 2022

OAKLAND, Calif. – The Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit) alerts communities, riders, and frontline employees that face masks use is no longer voluntary but instead required when boarding, riding, and exiting all AC Transit bus lines. The new onboard face mask requirement takes effect at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, June 3, 2022 and remains in place until further notice.

The reinstatement of the onboard face mask requirement follows newly released information from the Alameda County Health Officer that COVID-19 cases have exceeded last summer’s Delta wave and are now approaching diagnoses previously seen during the winter 2020-21 spike.

Alameda County Health advises that new patient admissions to county hospitals with COVID-19 have dramatically increased in recent days. Consequently, officials now warn that we are collectively close to reaching the "High Level" as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 Community Levels, which tracks data from counties across the nation.

Our transit district has relied on guidance from federal, state, and county public health departments and their officers since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. And we continue to follow their trusted guidance in the ongoing efforts to safeguard our riders and employees from the transmission of coronavirus. 

In keeping with our commitments to a safer ride, personal protective equipment dispensers at the entrance of each bus – continue to be stocked with face masks and hand sanitizer – and are offered without cost to every rider across our bus fleet. 

We know that this is an ever-changing process and understand that changes can generate frustration. However, slowing and ultimately eliminating the transmission of COVID-19 is a community effort. As such, we ask our riders and the entirety of our region to kindly support our frontline workers by respectfully complying with the restored face mask requirement.

Rider information, including ACT Realtime, maps and schedules, and trip planning is available at actransit.org.