Anchorage’s People Mover bus service to resume June 1

Anchorage’s public bus system will resume its normal schedule starting June 1.

All People Mover routes will come back with standard frequency, said Bart Rudolph, transit planning manager for the city.

The buses will have limited capacity, with 40-foot buses allowing nine passengers at a time and 22-foot buses allowing four passengers. The five 22-foot buses will run neighborhood routes, while the remaining nine routes are serviced by the larger buses.

The city halted People Mover’s regular service April 8 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, it has operated a free, on-demand service. The resumption is part of the city’s move to phase 3 of its COVID-19 recovery plan.

[Starting Monday, all Anchorage businesses will be able to operate at full capacity]

Fares will be required when the bus service resumes full time.

Rudolph said there will not be any markings or barriers to promote physical distancing, but riders are asked to space out.

“Within a 40-foot bus, it’s pretty easy for nine people to get 6 feet away from each other,” he said.

The city is also recommending that riders wear cloth face coverings and exit through the rear door.

Bus operators will wear masks and gloves and will answer health screening questions at the beginning and end of each shift.

Rudolph said in addition to the standard practice of cleaning things like hand railings nightly with a bleach solution, the interior of the buses will be fully sprayed down with disinfectant every night.

Starting Wednesday, the customer service window at the downtown transit center will open for people to purchase bus passes. People who had passes during days when service was shut down will be able to exchange them for current bus passes.

Clarification: A previous version of this article said bus routes would operate at 15-minute frequency. They will go back to standard frequency; not all routes run every 15 minutes.

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