PUEBLO – Pueblo Transit will move to its normal Saturday transit schedule, minus one mall route, until next Monday, December 14, 2020, due to COVID-19 impacting staffing levels.

Over the weekend, a transit operator, while awaiting COVID-19 test results, returned to work possibly exposing 2 other transit operators and 1 customer service representative. On Monday, Pueblo Transit was informed the operator did test positive and was sent home to isolate. The transit workers who were exposed have been sent home to monitor symptoms and quarantine for 14 days.

The driver was on the Red Creek route from 6:00 AM to 10 AM, Lake Route from 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM, and University Route from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM on Friday; and the Mall route from 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM and the University route from 2:30 PM to 6:30 PM on Saturday.

At this time, Pueblo Transit believes the exposure risk to the public is very low due to the safety measures in place on busses. Pueblo Transit operators have no direct contact with riders. At the end of each shift, busses are cleaned and sanitized. High frequency contact points on each bus are sanitized between each hourly run. All Pueblo Transit rides have been fare free since October 22nd. Fareboxes have been closed off during this time, and tickets and transfers have not been printed, sold, or exchanged.

As of Monday morning, Pueblo Transit had 1 person still positive for COVID-19 and 5 others had recovered. These COVID-19 positives were unrelated and occurred at different times.

Pueblo Transit has 11 or 21 operators out of work due to various reasons due to paid time-off, sick or family leave. COVID-19 has only added additional stress for Transit to maintain staffing at normal levels. Pueblo Transit is doing its best to keep Puebloans moving around the city safely, but the public may continue to see changes in routes and operations due to COVID-19.

The City of Pueblo encourages anyone waiting on test results to stay home and restrict interactions until you are cleared to return to work.

Pueblo Transit will have 9 runs open through Saturday and they are: 

• Eastside/Berkley- Beulah 
• Irving/Bessemer •Mall (1 bus per hour, leaving downtown at :30 after every hour) 
• Highland Park •Highway 50 •University 
• Belmont 
• Red Creek Springs 
• Lake

Hours of operation have been reduced to 8:30 AM to 6:30 PM. A full schedule of operations is available online at https://www.pueblo.us/492/Bus-Schedules.

CitiLift Paratransit Services are not affected.

Puebloans with questions should contact: Nick Hinrichsen, Operations Supervisor, at 719-553-2713, or nhinrichsen@pueblo.us.