Rail workers should set a good example as masks still essential
Ensuring passengers wear masks on public transport is a growing challenge for staff, whose task won’t be helped by a small minority of railway employees flouting the rule in full view of the public. Rhodri Clark reports
ENFORCING mask-wearing on public transport has become more challenging. Masks remain mandatory on all buses, trains and railway stations in Wales, but not in England. Drivers on the many cross-border bus services are expected to enforce the rule. On cross-border rail services, passengers could be reminded of the Welsh rules by the conductor walking through the train before or after crossing the border.
However, that’s unlikely to happen routinely, because most Transport for Wales conductors remain in their cabs during journeys. Their counterparts on England-based trains, including Avanti West Coast services in Wales, often walk through to check tickets and answer questions. The conductors rarely ask passengers to wear masks correctly, however, although in England earlier this month it was common to see masks below noses or mouths.
TfW seems to view the subject through rose-tinted spectacles, referring to a British Transport Police figure of over 90% compliance on the rail and London Tube networks. That’s plausible for compliance at TfW’s busiest stations, where staff in “Security” uniforms check people as they arrive.
It’s a different story inside the train, where the risks of airborne virus transmission are greater but some passengers remove their masks completely.
Others allow the mask to slip down past the nose or pull it down to expose the mouth and nose. Either way, the mask is ineffective and the behaviour counts as not wearing a mask.
Were a uniformed police officer to walk through the train, those masks would no doubt return to the correct position, and the officer would observe 90% compliance.
As would be expected, compliance by railway staff is much higher than 90%. I have yet to see a train conductor in Wales or England this year not wearing a mask correctly, but the good example set by most staff is undermined by the behaviour of a small minority.
One evening last week, at about 5.20pm, I and fellow passengers spent about 10 minutes waiting on a platform at Chester station for a delayed train to Holyhead. Near me were three railway employees.
One, an agency worker who was probably off duty, wore a black tabard with “Social Distancing” in white letters across the back. The tabard suggested that her job involves encouraging passengers to comply with the Covid-19 rules. TfW later told me it was unable to confirm what her role was that day.
Her own mask was normally below her nose, possibly because it was too loose. After a few minutes, she removed her tabard and put away her mask, although she was standing next to a fellow agency worker who was wearing a mask and a uniform marked “Security”. He was probably off duty by that time, but his job involves enforcing maskwearing at the station.
The third person in the group wore a TfW tabard and no mask. The trio continued to chat, oblivious to the impression they were giving passengers about the importance of wearing masks.
I was reminded of a journey along the border in late May. A young woman boarded at Shrewsbury and sat opposite me at the front of the train, where most seats were empty. Her head was almost entirely covered by a mask, glasses, a cap and a hood.
Just before the train departed, two men in TfW jerseys sat themselves in the two bays of four seats in front of us. They removed their masks from their mouths to discuss their social lives, in loud voices to bridge the gap between them. The woman soon got up, fetched her suitcase from the rack and moved elsewhere.
There was a lull in the chat while one of the men, wearing his mask, walked through the train to collect litter and possibly wipe surfaces to reduce virus transmission risk. The men continued to occupy the eight seats as the train started to fill up at Wrexham.
My train travel this year has been sporadic, resuming in May after 15 months’ absence. I abstained in June, apart from one brief journey, and resumed again in mid-July. Looking back through photos I took in May, I found some which showed two TfW employees at Treherbert station not wearing masks on the platform, with no badges or lanyards to say they were exempt. One of them appeared to be a driver instructor. Fortunately his trainee driver wasn’t following his example and wore a mask correctly while on the platform.
The photos also show a man in “Security” uniform on the platform at the same time. Perhaps security officers are not required to enforce compliance by staff.
It’s costing us as taxpayers to have so many security officers at stations. Last month the Welsh Government awarded TfW another £70m, in addition to TfW’s routine rail funding, to cover the costs of operating under Covid-19 restrictions and the reduction in passenger revenue. Last year TfW received about £167m of additional funding.
A YouGov survey this month found that 71% of respondents thought masks should remain mandatory on public transport. Last month, Transport Focus found 59% of respondents agreeing with the statement: “I won’t use public transport unless passengers are required to wear face coverings.”
If those findings remain valid, TfW’s patchy mask enforcement could result in reduced passenger revenue for weeks or months.
A TfW spokesman said: “Our frontline staff continue to work hard throughout the pandemic to provide vital rail services. TfW fully supports the Welsh Government regulations that face coverings must be worn on public transport, unless exempt.”