(KRON) — BART Board of Directors voted to extend its mask mandate until Oct. 1, effectively immediately. The board made a decision during Thursday’s meeting. They will meet again on Sept. 22 to decide if they will extend the mask mandate again or not.

The most recent mask mandate, which expired on July 18, was put in place on April 28. That came eight days after BART announced on April 20 masks are optional and “strongly encouraged” but not required.

The mandate requires riders to wear face masks that fully cover a person’s nose and mouth in BART’s paid areas, such as inside the trains and all parts of the station past the fare gates, with limited exceptions, the agency said. Children ages two and under are exempted from the mandate, including those with medical conditions.

Within the last year, BART’s mask policy has gone back and forth from required to encouraged. The timeline timeline of when mask mandates were removed/reinstated can be seen here.

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BART will continue to provide free face masks at station agent booths. Riders who aren’t wearing a mask could face a citation up to $75 or being removed from BART’s paid areas.