Virginia Railway Express is aggressively limiting passenger seating, with only every other window seat on each side of the train cars open to passengers to ensure proper distancing.
The seating availability is clearly marked with large, blue and red “Do Not Sit in Marked Seats” decals on seats that are not available.
VRE is also placing hand sanitizer dispensers on platforms, in station waiting rooms and near the priority seating on trains, and is adding additional signage promoting social distancing on trains, on platforms and stations.
VRE said it cleans its ticket vending machines at stations twice a day, but encourages riders to use the VRE Mobile app as an alternative to paper tickets. The app supports SmartBenefits and can be used to display tickets on a smartphone.
VRE is currently running on reduced schedules with four trains running northbound in the morning and southbound in the evening on both the Fredericksburg and Manassas lines.
It is able to operate a total of 32 trains per day and says it will lengthen and add more trains to maintain social distancing as ridership grows.
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