INCLINE AND MOUNTAIN METRO RECKLESSNESS

Hello,

I sent a complaint to the El Paso County Public Health Department two or three weeks ago about the violations of social distancing and the state mask order on the Incline and the Barr Trail.

I was on the Barr Trail the other day, I saw no improvements at all.

Mountain Metro drivers no longer enforce the mask order on the buses, and Mountain Metro is not requiring the drivers to do so.

There was an incident on route #6 Friday. I got on at 11:16 AM at Cascade and Taylor, heading to Citadel Mall.

A woman sitting across from me did not have her nose covered by her mask. I made the driver aware of the problem. The driver did not say a word to the woman. I spoke to the driver repeatedly. The woman began harassing me, telling me to get off and walk if I don't like it.

I nearly did, but demanded that the driver call dispatch. She did. Dispatch told her to turn the radio up loud so the passenger could her, but the passenger moved to the back and did not hear.

Dispatch said that all passengers have to have their mouth and nose covered properly, and if they refuse to do so they have to exit the bus.

I sat back down. The driver never said one word to the passenger, and she did not ever cover her nose.

I have witnessed violations being ignored by drivers repeatedly over the last two or three weeks.

All summer the drivers watched in the mirror. Before I would notice a violation the driver would start yelling at the passenger. “you have to keep your nose covered to ride the bus”. I had the impression that Mountain
Metro wanted passengers to know that there was a zero tolerance policy.

Recently I have seen passengers sitting in the very front of the bus near the driver violating the policy, and the driver will not say one word. More than one incident where the driver was familiar with the passenger and was involved in an ongoing conversation and laughing with the passenger not wearing a mask.

Did I read that cases of the pandemic in El Paso county are now increasing?

Thank you, Carl Strow