Both riders and drivers aboard Vineyard Transit Authority buses in Tisbury will be required to wear face coverings, following a vote by the town board of health Tuesday morning. The measure, which goes into effect Thursday, is expected to be adopted by the other Island towns.

VTA director Angela Grant says her agency has secured enough KN95 masks to both equip drivers and supply passengers who lack face coverings. The agency is also networking with public transit authorities on the mainland to encourage more passengers to arrive on Island with masks of their own, she said.

On the Vineyard, bus ridership is already up, Ms. Grant told the board.

“We are adding more service starting Friday because we are seeing an uptick in ridership. That’s not exactly what we want right now, but it’s happening,” she said.

Effective seven days a week from May 1 to June 5, the added service is intended to maintain safe social distancing among passengers, Ms. Grant said. It does not include routes 2, 4, 8, 10A and 11, which will resume in June, according to the VTA website.

Rear-door boarding, designed to protect the drivers from infection, has continued but will need to be phased out for summer so that drivers can collect fares, she said.

Ms. Grant also told the board the VTA is ahead of many mainland transit agencies in having invested a couple of years ago in a bus sanitation system.

“Our hurdles were a little less,” she said. In addition to the daily deep cleaning, each bus now also has a hand sanitizer station for passengers and a supply of disinfectant wipes for the driver, she said.

The Oak Bluffs board of health took a similar vote Tuesday morning.

In Tisbury the board of health discussed also requiring masks for Steamship Authority passengers and employees in Tisbury, but deferred action until town health agent Maura Valley can talk with the boat line’s shoreside operations and health and safety managers.

The issue of face coverings on ferries surfaced during a hospital press briefing Tuesday morning, when CEO Denise Shecpici said she was horrified after seeing a picture in the Gazette of foot passengers exiting an incoming ferry not wearing masks.

The issue did not come up during a Steamship Authority board meeting Tuesday morning, but boat line spokesman Sean Driscoll said later that while they encouraged face coverings — including through copious signage at all the terminals — they could not require them. “We are a public agency so we cannot decide ourselves to deny access to the boats based on any criteria,” Mr. Driscoll said.

Meanwhile, looking ahead to summer in Tisbury, Ms. Valley made a series of recommendations to postpone and cancel activities including organized sports leagues, Vineyard Haven Band concerts and the Tisbury Street Fair, which draws thousands of people in July.

“It’s absolutely impossible to control that density, and the vendors that make it so successful depend on the volume,” board chairman Jeff Pratt said of the street fair.

Board members agreed to send Ms. Valley’s recommendations on to selectmen, who meet Tuesday at 4 p.m.

The board of health meets a second time this week on Friday at 11 a.m. to discuss the stay at home order, which was extended statewide to May 18 by Governor Baker Tuesday morning.

Board member Michael Loberg said local health officials need state guidance to determine how to manage the beaches when summer arrives.

“I can see where it could go wrong from a public health perspective,” he said.

Aaron Wilson and Noah Asimow contributed reporting.