Northern Health Connections set to return to pre-pandemic passenger policies

The Northern Health Connections Bus stationed in 
downtown Prince Rupert prior to an eastbound run

With the province now moving forward into Phase Three of the Restart program and a state of emergency rescinded related to the COVID situation, the regional Health care transportation service is making some changes to their policies on eligibility.

Northern Health Connections issued a statement earlier this week noting that as of July 5th, the service is returning to their guidelines on passenger eligibility from before the pandemic.

Passengers eligible to use the bus service include: 

Those traveling for non-urgent medical procedures, including for appointments such as chiropractors and massage therapists – appointment verification continues to be required 

Discharges (by health authority hospital staff) – appointment verification not required Medically-necessary companions 

Staff & Physicians (including health care students), who are travelling for work Seniors (60+) - appointment verification not required

The service also notes that the Northern Health Connection vehicles Northern Health Connections will return to standard seating but will continue with enhanced safety measures. 

Some of the changes that were implemented during the pandemic will be permanent, including: 

All travel must now be booked at least 24 hours in advance. Passenger manifests are required for safety and contact tracing purposes. 

NHC will not accept any walk-on passengers. 

Pre-booked assigned seating will be required (similar to air travel). People will be screened for COVID-19-like symptoms both when booking, and prior boarding; anyone with symptoms will not be allowed to travel. 

Enhanced COVID cleaning and infection control measures will be ongoing. Passenger partitions will remain in place (for the immediate future – to be assessed). 

You can review more information from the announcement from Northern Health.

Northern Health Connections provides transportation from Prince Rupert to Terrace, Prince George and on to Vancouver. 

You can explore more of what they have to offer here as well as from their Facebook page.

More notes on Northern Health in the Northwest can be reviewed below:

Prince Rupert Notes

Rest of the Northwest.