Ottawa’s transit agency will be handing out tickets to riders failing to comply with its mandatory mask policy on Wednesday as part of an enforcement blitz to reinforce COVID-19 precautions on buses and the light-rail system.
OC Transpo head John Manconi said in a memo to members of Ottawa city council on Monday that the agency will be running a one-day “Operation Mask Up” blitz on Wednesday, Feb. 3.
Special constables working along the city’s transit system will issue fines of $260 to anyone not wearing a mask, according to the memo. Anyone without a mask will be given a disposable one.
Young children and people who identify themselves as having a medical condition that prevents the proper use of a mask will not be fined.
Manconi said the previous Operation Mask Up campaign from Oct. 9 to 23 resulted in a “steady decline” of customers not wearing their masks or wearing them incorrectly.
“The purpose of running an additional one-day blitz is to reinforce the importance of wearing
a mask while taking transit,” Manconi said, adding there could be need for additional blitzes in the future.
OC Transpo was the first transit agency in Ontario to make masks mandatory on public transit in June 2020.
Manconi originally said there would be no “mask police” on board trains and buses when the mask policy first went into effect.
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