Fines call as tram mask use rule ‘still ignored’
Stop ‘babysitting’ passengers
METROLINK bosses have been urged to hand out more fines to people not wearing face coverings instead of ‘babysitting’ passengers by handing masks out.
Face coverings have been mandatory on public transport since the middle of June as part of measures to reduce the spread of Covid-19.
But councillors are still receiving complaints from constituents who are ‘sick to death’ about Metrolink users ignoring the rules.
Most passengers are wearing face coverings, with compliance levels sitting at an average of 86 per cent at the morning peak and around 81 per cent in the evening peak.
This is a significant improvement on figures reported in the summer, when only 70 per cent of people had their faces covered on the morning peak - and just 60 per cent later in the day.
Metrolink staff are asked to remind passengers of the rules, hand out masks at busy stops and check if passengers are exempt from wearing one before taking further action. This can include preventing a non-compliant passenger from boarding the tram or issuing a £100 on-the-spot fine.
But Rochdale councillor Phil Burke told a meeting of the Greater Manchester transport committee he wants enforcement to be stepped up against the persistent minority.
The Labour councillor said on Friday: “We’re still getting issues with constituents complaining about the amount of people travelling on Metrolink not wearing face masks.
“Do you think it’s wise to keep babysitting passengers by giving face masks out? They’ve had long enough to get their own, this has been going on since March. These people should really be prosecuted by being given a fixed penalty notice.”
Concerns around compliance on the Rochdale via Oldham Metrolink, as well as stops in Manchester city centre, have been raised throughout the pandemic.
In July around 2,400 masks were handed out during a week of action conducted by Metrolink, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and Greater Manchester Police as part of the TravelSafe partnership.
But Coun Howard Sykes, leader of Oldham council’s Liberal Democrats, said: “There comes a point when you have to give up on ever educating people. People who follow the guidelines have no choice due to their working arrangements but to use the tram, and they want to see us taking action.
“I know I speak for other colleagues regardless of what political affiliation we have, and our ordinary Metrolink travelling public who are absolutely sick to death. For me you could give [noncompliant passengers] fines like confetti. It is unacceptable and is putting people at risk.”
TfGM’s chief operating officer Bob Morris was unable to provide the committee with the number of fines that had been handed out for non-compliance since June.
The meeting heard that the TravelSafe partnership would continue to use their presence on the trams to pursue an education approach first ‘rather than just slap fines on everybody’.
Mr Morris added: “There will always be a hardcore that will always ignore, so the more we can encourage, the more we can
Metrolink bosses urged to make the opportunity to have face coverings available, the better.
“But I do agree that at some point it has to move from being a carrot to more of a stick.”
In a statement published after the meeting, Danny Vaughan, TfGM’s head of Metrolink, said Greater Manchester’s education-first approach was in line with other police forces across the UK - including British Transport Police.
“It’s a critical piece of work and a huge amount has been done to engage with the public and passengers on this issue,” he said.
“During the pandemic, the TravelSafe partnership has delivered 42 separate days of action around this issue, in 28 different locations, and has distributed more than 7,000 free facecoverings to passengers on the tram and bus networks.
“Further to this, and as a part of a series of new safety measures introduced on Metrolink, a roving team of ‘trambassadors’ have been introduced to the network recently - with the sole aim of helping customers to travel more safely and distribute free face coverings and hand sanitisers if required.
“While acknowledging that there is always more that can be done, the result of the consistent and wideranging focus on this important issue is that, overall, face covering compliance on Metrolink is good, with the very latest counts showing an average compliance rate of 83.9% across both peaks while travelling on the network.”