‘DO NOT TRAVEL’
Government abandons advice to avoid public transport
THE widely anticipated abandonment by the Government of its advice for the general public in England to stay away from public transport has received a muted welcome from the industry.
As this issue of RAIL went to press, ministers were understood to be just hours away from officially dropping guidance first put in place at the start of the Coronavirus outbreak in March for passengers to avoid using trains, buses and trams unless necessary.
Although the Department for Transport had yet to respond to RAIL’s request for a comment, senior industry sources said decision makers were now satisfied that there was sufficient capacity on the network to safely accommodate an increase in passenger numbers.
This has been achieved by the near-full restoration of prepandemic timetables in large parts of the country on July 6, plus the Government’s earlier decision to reduce social distancing in England from two metres to one metre where two metres is deemed unviable and where mitigation measures can be applied - including the mandatory use of face coverings.
At the time of going to press, the network was believed to be carrying approximately 20% of ordinary pre-pandemic passenger loadings, but with scope to carry up to 40%.
Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps was therefore expected to approve the change in messaging on July 8.
“Telling the public not to travel was the right thing to do at the time, in order to ensure that there was enough space for the key workers that needed it,” said a senior RAIL source close to the discussions.
“But this feels like the right thing to do now to avoid the transport industry falling into a despair that takes years to get out of. I see buses and trains with absolutely no one on them, which seems like a pointless exercise.”
The decision to ditch the restrictions on who may use public transport also follows a gradual easing of other lockdown restrictions across wider society, including the reopening of tourist and leisure attractions and large parts of the hospitality sector on July 4.
There has also been mounting pressure within government and from the Treasury in particular, which has so far approved funding for the railways of more than £3.5 billion to maintain Emergency Measures Agreements with train operators until September.
In the meantime, fears had been growing within the industry that the ‘stay away’ message was damaging the prospects of a longer-term recovery in revenue and passenger numbers to prepandemic levels.
Although it was unknown at the time of going to press whether the unions would support the latest move, industry insiders were confident that the safety case was now strong enough to persuade people to return to the network.
This will have been bolstered by the Rail Delivery Group’s publication of a Safer Travel
Pledge.
Launched on July 3 to coincide with the recent reopening of large parts of the economy and the latest timetable uplift, the pledge contains eight measures being taken by rail companies to ensure the safety of passengers (see panel) - including ‘fog’ cleaning on trains, provision of hand sanitiser and face masks in vending machines, and new social distancing signs.
Andy Bagnall, chief strategy officer at the RDG, said: “The rail industry wants to support the Government in striking the difficult balance between reopening the economy, which of course means more rail travel, and guarding against a widespread further outbreak of the virus.
“Clearly, there will come a moment - soon, we hope - when the Government stops discouraging people from taking the train and we can start utilising the extra capacity we have
following the recent timetable uplift and reduction to one-metreplus social distancing.
“By giving people the reassurance that they need to travel by train again, steps such as the launch of the Safer Travel Pledge aim to give the industry a stronger foundation from which to rebuild when the moment comes.”
Train operating companies appear to be under no illusion of the scale and difficulty of the task that now awaits them in encouraging greater numbers of people to use the railway without risking the creation of actual or perceived unsafe conditions.
A senior media and communications manager at one operator told RAIL: “Toning down the messaging is in line with what government has asked us to do in terms of increasing services. Government wants people back on the trains and we want to encourage as much discretionary travel as possible, but with the caveat of social distancing.
“This is not the abandonment of social distancing, because what we can’t do is have a hard push and then end up with packed trains going to the seaside. I think advice will still stand to avoid peak time and to take other sensible precautions, but the reality is that we now have a lot of empty carriages and capacity for leisure travel, and we know that not everybody will want to come back straight away.”
They added: “There is a nuance required with regard to the messaging and how you bring people back, but it is time to get the economy going again and for us to play our part in that.”
Because health is a devolved matter, RAIL understands that the anticipated changes will apply in England only, with travel restrictions and guidance in Scotland and Wales likely to vary.