Buses line up at the Butler Transit Authority station in downtown Butler. Mask wearing on buses is difficult to enforce, said executive director John Paul.

The Butler Transit Authority follows a federal mandate requiring passengers and drivers to wear face masks on buses, but not all passengers comply.

The rule to wear masks to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 is simple, but enforcement is complicated, said John Paul, authority executive director.

“We ask people to wear them. We offer them masks. We give them hand sanitizer. Enforcement is the issue,” Paul said. “We get complaints.”

People with certain medical conditions are exempt from the mandate and drivers can't be asked to determine which passengers have medical exemptions and which simply don't wish to wear masks, he said.

“We don't want a confrontation between riders and drivers or between passengers. It is mandated to wear them. We continue to ask people to wear them,” Paul said.

He said the rule is federally mandated, but calling police is the only way to enforce it, and the authority has not done that.

In unrelated business, at last week's authority board meeting, Paul said the authority will receive $903,206 in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act money to offset lost revenue from the commuter service to Pittsburgh as the result of a decline in ridership due to the pandemic.

The grant will support continuation of the commuter service, he said.