The Vineyard Transit Authority will maintain reduced service through the summer, VTA administrator Angie told the advisory board late last week.

Face coverings are now required in order to ride the bus, and the VTA will be providing optional gloves for riders as well, Ms. Grant also said.

Reduced service has already been running all winter. Some routes were added effective May 1.

But citing a 70 per cent decline in ridership and projections that ridership will remain down through the summer, Ms. Grant said she expects service cutbacks will continue through the summer. The plan is to roll out service based on demand, provided that it is safe, she said.

“South Beach might only have 30-minute service until it warrants 15- minute service,” Ms. Grant said. “Theoretically, there will be less traffic. So we won’t need as many routes 1 and 13.”

She added: “The days of 70 people on a 40-foot bus is not going to be the case for this summer.”

First-quarter revenues ending March 31 were steady, but advisory board members were concerned about a drop in the next quarter.

Adding to the problem, the VTA began rear-door boarding at the end of March to maintain social distancing rules. The protocol essentially stopped drivers from collecting fares, though payment is encouraged, Ms. Grant said.

“If service is reduced. . . that is a double hit, so that revenues will drop automatically,” said Edgartown advisory board member Mark Snider.

Ms. Grant assured the board that she expects to see funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) act, specific to public transit agencies. She said economic relief will help offset the declines in revenue.

“CARES funding is allowing us to recover lost revenue and cover expenses at 100 per cent,” Ms. Grant said. “We will be able to balance the budget as expected.”

She said all capital projects are currently stalled. The Church street project in Edgartown will be the subject of a nonbinding voter referendum at the annual town meeting, now set for June.

“If it gets delayed from town meeting, we will have to look for alternatives,” Ms. Grannt said.

The meeting started with a moment of silence for John Alley, a longtime advisory board member who died in March.