La Crosse MTU closes Grand River Station lobby

The La Crosse Municipal Transit Utility (MTU) announced it will close the lobby at Grand River Station Wednesday in response to issues surrounding COVID-19.

Adam Lorenz, transit manager, said he and his staff are following the direction from state and local health officials as well as information from the Center for Disease Control.

“We do deem transportation a vital city service, so we want to make sure that we still maintain our operation, but we also want to help the reduction of the spread of COVID-19,” Lorenz said.

Lorenz said they plan to take resources that they are using for the public facility and put them towards buses.

“Staff, supplies, all of that we want to make sure that we’re giving our riders and our drivers on the bus the safest environment we can,” Lorenz said.

He noted drivers have individual sanitation bags that they can use at the change out of their shifts as well as hand sanitizer. The buses also go through a deep-cleaning with specialized chemicals that are designed to kill the virus.

“We’ve upped our cleaning, obviously, and increased our staff to clean the buses,” Lorenz said.

According to Lorenz, there is still a steady flow of passengers using public transportation. As of now, the bus schedule will continue as normal. Buses will use the outdoor platform at Grand River Station as the main transfer point.

“We are going to continue to monitor the situation,” Lorenz said. “We are stepping up our precautions and efforts to make sure buses are clean and sanitary to ride.”

Passengers can find updates on any MTU changes the transit utility’s Facebook page as well as the La Crosse Police Department Facebook page and city website. A re-open date for the lobby has not been set.