On Tuesday afternoon, the Department of Justice announced plans to appeal a federal judge's ruling that invalidated the national mask mandate on public transit.
The ruling, and now appeal, has left dozens of transit agencies across the nation and the Bay Area to decide on their own whether to keep requiring masks.
Local airports and most airlines say masks are optional, but several local transit agencies like VTA, Muni, AC Transit and Caltrain say masks are still mandatory.
Passengers are still trying to figure out exactly what the rules are.
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At the Caltrain station in San Francisco, the signs and digital displays remind passengers that masks are still required onboard the trains.
Some passengers say they didn't need a mandate to make their decision.
"It kind of makes sense to wear a mask even if there wasn't a pandemic, to be honest," said San Francisco resident Reem Farhat. "And now that I've gotten used to it, I will probably always wear it on the train."
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"I probably want to protect myself more, so I'm not really worried about what anybody else is doing, said Antioch resident Dwan White.
One man told NBC Bay Area he has long opposed the mask mandates, but he's not putting his away just yet.
“I wear mine if others wear theirs as a courtesy to other people," he said. "Otherwise, mine is staying off.”
