The MTA’s largest union wants cops assigned to buses to make sure riders wear masks — with drivers saying up to half of their passengers don’t cover their faces.
“The MTA and the city both should deploy their police to this health hazard. If someone doesn’t have a mask, they should be escorted off the bus and hit with a $100 fine like farebeating,” TWU Local 100 president Tony Utano said in a statement late Tuesday.
Utano called the scourge of unmasked passengers “much worse than farebeating.”
“This is jeopardizing the health of riders and bus operators,” he said. “If they want social workers out there handing out masks, that would be fine too, but there has to be real enforcement.”
An MTA survey last month found 90 percent of subway riders were wearing masks — but one bus operator told The Post compliance is now much lower on her route in Manhattan.
“I would say it’s 50-50, especially since it’s gotten warmer. I’m not saying I don’t understand that, but we have to wear it for eight hours,” said Regan Weal, who drives the M14 across town in Manhattan.
“You should be able to wear the mask for the few minutes when you’re on the bus.”
Weal said mask wearing is a particular concern as the MTA prepares to resume front door boarding next month. The agency is also installing plexiglass shields around bus driver seats.
“They’re going to take down our old protection and put in new protection, and there’s no guarantee that will work,” she said. “There’s going to be too many people close to our area.”
Jason Felix, a driver based out of the Gun Hill Depot in The Bronx, said the vast majority of his passengers wear masks — but conceded that he and many of his co-workers still suffer from the residual effects of the virus, and fear for their health.
“When they get on out of courtesy they will put the mask on. The bus is so crowded, people want to wear a mask for others,” said Felix, who contracted the virus in March.
“My calves feel very, very sore a lot, which is kind of weird to me. I’ve never had that problem,” he said. “Sometimes I do start struggling with my breathing.”
The MTA has lost 132 employees to the coronavirus — the vast majority of them city bus and subway workers. Since early March, more than 10,000 people out of the agency’s 70,000-person workforce have missed work at one point or another due to the virus.
“If a second [coronavirus] wave happens, I know a lot of bus drivers are going to leave,” Felix said. “They still have a lot of symptoms and they’re struggling with them.”
In a statement, MTA rep Abbey Collins blasted TWU for its push for additional enforcement.
She said a new survey on mask compliance on buses is underway, but insisted “the vast majority of New Yorkers are wearing masks.”
“If riders aren’t following the rules, by law they need to leave the system,” Collins said.
“We continue to do everything possible to keep customers and employees safe and despite the sideshow, TWU Local 100 knows that.”