Masks are required on Metro-North trains, but not a single ticket has been
given out since 2020, according to the Connecticut Examiner.
Two commuter rail groups are now calling on Gov. Ned Lamont to “direct the
Department of Transportation and Metro-North to enforce federal and state
regulations.”
Metro-North President Catherine Rinaldi says they are seeing around 91% of mask
compliance and that the problem is overstated, but she admits that some incidents do happen.
“If somebody is confrontational, if they refuse to pull up their mask, we will
and have called law enforcement,” Rinaldi says.
Commuter groups say there aren’t enough MTA officers, and they want conductors
to write tickets.
Metro-North’s president says they have added police on some trains, especially
on those leaving Yankee Stadium after games.
Connecticut Transportation Commissioner Joe Giuletti says he thinks crews are
doing the best they can with the situation and that writing tickets is not the
crews’ job.
“When the crews have seen people stepping onto a car, they say, ‘Do you have a
mask?’ and if they don’t, they
hand them a mask,” Giuletti says.
Travelers like New Canaan resident Sarah Patterson wears a mask, but says she
is not concerned when others don’t.
“…I’m comfortable with whatever people want to do,” Patterson says. “If they
want to wear a mask or not, I’m OK with that.”
Tickets for not wearing a mask come with a $100 fine in Connecticut and a $50
fine in New York.