‘Staggered’ work plan to prevent travel chaos
BUSINESSES in Greater Manchester will be asked to stagger staff working times to prevent ‘chaos’ on our roads and public transport network as travel restrictions are lifted.
Much has been made of the new practicalities of office life in terms of social distancing and infection control.
But getting commuters to and from work on an already pressurised public transport network has also become a headache for leaders as they grapple with a post-Covid pre-vaccine world where people must remain two metres apart.
Passenger numbers across the region’s trams, buses and trains have plummeted during lockdown, with tram patronage falling initially to around 10 per cent, rising to 15pc this week, while buses are carrying around 25pc of their usual customers.
Yet Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester
mayor, has warned these current, remarkably low, patronage figures actually represent near-full capacity because of the two-metre social distancing rule.
Trains, meanwhile, which are carrying around 10pc of their usual numbers, are thought to be further from full capacity.
The fact cycling is up from around 85,000 to nearly a million journeys a week is positive, he said. But without action to change people’s working and commuting habits, he warned, there could be ‘chaos at the tram stops or unprecedented traffic congestion’ when restrictions on travel are further eased. He said: “We are going to add capacity from Monday, with double trams on every service to allow distancing with a service every 10 minutes giving more frequency.”
But he added: “Capacity is going to be a problem, we’ve not got any more trams to put out on the network.”
Even if social distancing rules were eased to one metre, he said, that would only increase Metrolink capacity to 23pc, adding: “The constraints on buses trams and trains will be there for as long as we don’t have a vaccine, there’s no question about that.”
He said one way to tackle this problem was to look at how people use public transport and when they travel.
He added: “If you look outside London, I am always struck by the fact the working day is a traditional nine to five.
“We are working quite hard with businesses in this period to ask them to stagger the start and end times to the working day and allow the peak to be spread through the day.”
He said this was happening ‘to a degree’ already but that they would have to ‘enshrine behaviours’ and ‘build back better.’ Speaking at a transport committee meeting, he added: “You’d imagine most people in Greater Manchester would benefit from a more flexible working day.”
He said other means which could ease pressure would be more government investment in buses or funding the struggling coach industry to boost capacity.