Press Release5/27/2020

COTA Now Using Innovative Sanitization Process to Better Protect Customers on Transit Vehicles

The Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) announced a groundbreaking enhancement to add to an already extensive COVID-19 sanitization process for its entire fleet of more 400 transit vehicles including buses, COTA Plus vehicles and COTA Mainstream paratransit vehicles.

Starting this month, all transit vehicles will have Aegis Microbe Shield applied to every surface that could be touched by customers and operators, including metal, cloth, glass and plastic.

Aegis Microbe Shield is a colorless, odorless, FDA-approved antimicrobial solution that attracts, then electrocutes and ruptures, a microbe’s negatively-charged cell membrane. To put it simply, surfaces treated with Aegis creates in inhospitable environment for potentially-harmful microbes.

“As our economy re-opens and demand for mobility increases, COTA is looking to the best available technology to generate a safe environment for customers and employees using our transit vehicles,” said COTA President/CEO Joanna M. Pinkerton.

It is anticipated Aegis will be applied annually to all COTA transit vehicles moving forward. Once dried to the surface, Aegis provides an invisible layer of protection for up to one year.

To download and view the COTA team applying Aegis to buses, click here.

Aegis is an innovative approach to providing antimicrobial protection for high-capacity industries such as medical, textiles, and hospitality, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic. COTA is one of the few transit authorities in the country using Aegis as part of its strategy to better protect customers and operators.

COTA will use Aegis as an addition to its already robust daily cleaning and sanitization process. All buses are sanitized multiple times daily, with sanitizing solutions approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Since early March, COTA has taken multiple steps to combat the spread of the coronavirus:

  • April 27 – COTA made changes to essential service to ease demands on frontline employees.
  • April 16 – COTA began doubling the cleaning/disinfecting of 118 transit shelters.
  • April 15 – COTA began requiring passengers to wear secure personal protection masks covering their faces.
  • April 8 – COTA began distributing masks to all COTA employees.
  • April 3 – COTA announced its Essential Travel Only Policy, for which buses are to be used by customers only for access to food, health care, travel to and from work, and caring for others.
  • April 1 – COTA began mandatory temperature checks for all employees entering COTA facilities.
  • March 19 – COTA suspended fares and instructed riders to board buses from the rear doors to keep separated from drivers.
  • March 16 – COTA’s initial focused service changes reduced the number of bus routes and consolidated service in some areas.
  • March 1 – COTA implemented the Stop the Spread Campaign, which provided tips on how to prevent the spread of infectious disease.
  • COTA limits the number of riders on each bus to 20 and continues to ask riders to observe social distancing.
  • All COTA vehicles are equipped with hand sanitizing dispensers, stocked daily and located at the front of the vehicle.