Social distancing relaxed on public transport

Social distancing measures on Metlink trains and buses will be reduced from two metres to one metre when the country moves to Covid-19 alert level two.

The current two metre distancing rules recommendations mean that medium-sized buses often can only carry a maximum of eight people, councillors were told at a Greater Wellington Regional Council meeting on Thursday.

With an estimated 500,000 people across the country going back to work under level three, the limited capacity was already putting a strain on the system.

Councillors were also told all buses, trains, stations and interchanges in Wellington have also been equipped with CCTV cameras, which could be used to assist contact tracing efforts.

The cameras have not yet been required, councillors were told, because no one with Covid-19 was believed to have taken public transport in the city.

Wellington has just seven active cases of

Covid-19 as of yesterday, with 86 recovered and two deaths.

During level four, Metlink buses and trains ran on a Sunday schedule and were only available to essential workers or for people going to supermarkets, pharmacies and other essential locations. At level three, schedules returned to normal weekday routes. All fares are still free. At level two, buses and trains are expected to start charging fares again.

A Metlink spokesman said there were about 4000 passenger boardings on buses at level four. At level three, that had increased to about 10,000 boardings, he said.

On rail, Metlink had seen increases ranging from a doubling or even tripling patronage on certain services. Some had got close to capacity, with more than 100 people on board at any one time.

‘‘This is uncharted territory, and we are closely monitoring everything we are seeing on the bus and rail networks and are focused on ensuring that our communities continue to receive the level of public transport they deserve.’’