Even buses are getting an extra scrubbing to help stop the spread of the coronavirus

Normally Latisha Mays, 37, picks up trash and other garbage strewn inside Miami-Dade’s Metromover cars each day, but now, wearing a mask, gloves and safety glasses and carrying cans of disinfectant, she’s helping to block the spread of COVID-19.

The county began extra sanitizing of public transportation vehicles a week ago after the CDC and other governmental agencies began releasing guidelines on keeping passengers safe from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, said Luis Espinoza, Miami-Dade County’s communications and special projects manager.

Buses and Metromover vehicles are being disinfected nightly, and cleaning crews are focusing on disinfecting the areas that people touch the most.

Other public transportation providers in South Florida are following suit. Brightline is increasing sanitation of its trains, adding hand sanitizer stations and using disposable cleaning supplies.

Tri-Rail stepped up the cleaning of its trains last week, said Steven Abrams, executive director of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority. Maintenance workers wipe down the trains an additional time during the day and clean the trains more thoroughly at night.

Supplies are scarce so Tri-Rail is not currently providing customers with sanitary wipes or hand sanitizer, Abrams said. But customers have started bringing their own in the meantime.

“We’re not going to make our trains completely germ free and I think our customers understand that, but we’re doing all that we can,” he said.

Miami Beach’s trolley operator, Limousines of South Florida, is also stepping up to multiple cleanings each day, according to its website. The company has also equipped trolleys with hand-sanitizing wipes and gel. In addition, vehicles with unsanitary conditions are immediately taken back to headquarters for cleaning.

So far, passengers haven’t expressed concerns to the county about catching the virus, and the system hasn’t experienced a noticeable decline in ridership, Espinoza said. The sanitation is more a pragmatic move.

“We weren’t sanitizing before the outbreak. ... We would clean them every night,” said Scott Nicoll, general superintendent of rail maintenance for Miami-Dade County. “We’ve added sanitizing to prevent it from even getting started here.”

The sanitation on the train stations’ wooden platforms begins right after rush hour ends around 8 p.m. and is usually finished by 6 a.m., Espinoza said. Trains come in through the night, some as late as 2 a.m., and two workers at a time clean each car.

The city has also added daytime disinfection, Nicoll said. All vehicles in service are being sprayed with disinfectant at the end of each run.

“Instead of just picking up the trash to keep the train clean for the passengers, we have to keep the passengers extra safe,” Mays said. “We always keep the passengers safe, but this takes it to another level.

“We do it in between our biggest traffic times, when the people are actually using the trains.”

Mays and 20 other rail vehicle maintenance workers quickly clean the train on its three-minute breaks, swiping handles, seats and handholds with rubbing alcohol. Then they “go behind it” and mist the entire area with a disinfectant spray that promises it kills the flu virus, chlamydia and other bacteria.

Mays and a coworker, Andre Henry, hop on the train at the final stop, Dadeland South, each day to sanitize the cars for midday riders. “We have to work fast because the next train is coming in and out,” she said.

The team is working overtime to keep the city’s 76 running cars clean, Mays said. Mays works her regular shift from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., and sometimes her supervisor asks her to come in on the second shift from 1 pm. to 9 p.m.

Far more Miamians rely on the county’s 96 bus routes and 600 buses, Espinoza said. Sixty-one workers are responsible for cleaning the county’s buses thoroughly at night, and since the outbreak they’ve added disinfecting during the day as well.

“We need the extra manpower,” Mays said. “Because of this situation and how fast it escalated, everybody’s been doing overtime, even my supervisor, our chief.”

They go though a lot of towels. A lot of cans of disinfectant.

“We’ve ordered an exorbitant amount,” Nicoll said.

The city has also ordered a cleanser recommended by the American Public Transportation Association and asked for expedited delivery, Nicoll said.

“It’s a fogger, and it creates a barrier on the train’s hard surfaces so when any germs or viruses hit that, it mechanically penetrates them,” he said. “It’s not a hard chemical, it just destroys the germs.”

Rubbing alcohol works better for smaller surfaces, but the fogger is better for larger areas, Nicoll said.

For protection, team members don masks, gloves, safety glasses and long pants and sleeves that until now weren’t part of the usual garb. None of the maintenance workers has expressed concerns about catching the virus so far, Espinoza said.

“We don’t take this lightly,” Espinoza said. “This is big.”

Miami Herald staff writer Douglas Hanks contributed to this report.

This story was originally published March 10, 2020 at 12:09 PM.