Each transit system will be swabbed in triplicate and some additional samples will be taken for culturing and testing. Two surfaces will be swabbed in each station, and one surface will be swabbed within one train for each line. Samples will be collected from turnstiles, emergency exits, ticket kiosks, wooden and metal benches, stairwell handrails, garbage cans, elevators, and other surfaces. The turnstiles and kiosks will be prioritized at each station due to the level of human-surface interaction at these particular sites. In the train, the doors, poles, handrails, and seats will be swabbed.
A mobile application (app) for iOS and Android systems is being developed in collaboration with GIS Cloud Mobile Data Collection (MDC) to map the data points according to their geographical locations. When using the GIS Cloud app, data fields to input included a sample ID, place, surface, traffic level, notes, and an option to take a picture, and the app automatically adds a time stamp for each submission. The app has been expanded to include swabbing of other surfaces, including buses, taxis, parks, and airports.
The MetaSUB Consortium is currently testing various sample collection kits and developing the GIS Cloud app.