Transport safety tested as Italy prepares to reopen
From May 4, an estimated 2.7 million Italians are hoping to head back to work as part of the gradual easing of the lockdown.
At least 15 percent of them will need to use public transport. On Sunday, the government started testing trains, trams, buses and subways to check how social distancing can be assured. Italy is where Europe’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) trauma first took effect, killing nearly 26,000 people and forcing a strict lockdown that brought social and economic activity to a grinding halt.
How it manages to return to normality will be closely watched by other nations hoping to regain some semblance of “business as usual” in their cities.
Restarting public transport in Italy is a huge challenge, as it is usually overcrowded and inefficient.
“The reopening will be gradual. At the beginning, people will only be allowed to move for work or other justifiable reasons,” said Transport Minister Paola De Micheli while visiting an underground station in Rome, where the distancing service is being tested.
At entrances, staff allowed 30 passengers in every three minutes, making them wait in line at a safe distance.
Only a maximum of 150 passengers will be allowed on each train. Before COVID-19, Rome’s rush hour saw some 1,000 people per train. Blue stripes with dots have been painted on the platform marking the safety distance each passenger must keep. On Milan’s subway, which usually carries 1.4 million people a day, capacity will be drastically reduced by up to 30 percent. The situation will not be different in Rome, where the underground has never been efficient in normal times. Its trains are infamous for being permanently packed with passengers.
“We are planning some similar restrictions for buses. People will use only the back door to board, for a maximum of 30 passengers per vehicle,” the Mayor of Rome Virginia Raggi told Arab News at the underground station where tests are taking place.
“Rome has to start over again, and we will make sure that people will be able to commute to work in the safest way possible,” she said.
There will be hand sanitizer dispensers on buses, trains and trams and many seats will remain empty. Passengers will be strongly advised, though probably not obliged, to wear masks on public transport. On flights, it is likely that masks will be compulsory, while thermal scanner devices will be set in every airport and station.
People taking taxis will be prohibited from sitting next to the driver and, where there are two passengers or more, will be obliged to wear face masks.