Some scared to take trains, others glad about passenger screening
KUALA LUMPUR: Qasidah Noh Salleh, 35, has been working from home since the Movement Control Order (MCO) was enforced on March 18.
Yesterday, she finally left for her office, which has opened under the Conditional Movement Control Order.
After more than 40 days of not taking the Light Rail Transit and Mass Rapid Transit, she said she was afraid of being outdoors amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Qasidah, who works as a customer service employee at a government agency, takes the LRT from the Taman Melati station to Pasar Seni, where she switches to the MRT line and travels to the Kwasa Sentral station.
“I was a bit scared to leave my house. I left at 5am to avoid the crowds. Luckily, there were not many passengers at that time.
“I have to see what the afteroffice hour crowd is like. If there are too many passengers, I will go home later,” she said at the Pasar Seni MRT station.
She said she was wearing a face mask and using as much hand sanitiser as she could the moment she left her house.
She added that her office provided face shields for employees dealing with customers.
Sales assistant Rathika Balakrishnan, 29, said she felt safe travelling on the MRT from the Merdeka station in Jalan Hang Jebat to Pasar Seni for work.
Rathika, who lives at Flat Sri Sarawak, said she was glad that Prasarana was screening passengers before allowing them into the stations.
“Prasarana staff also reminded us to put on face masks. They are making our health and wellbeing a priority and that makes me feel safe.”
Checks by the New Straits
Times found that Prasarana had made it compulsory for passengers to have their temperatures checked and provided hand sanitiser for passengers before they entered the station.
All passengers entering and leaving the Bukit Bintang MRT station were seen wearing face masks and adhering to instructions given by personnel and auxiliary police.
In the trains, passengers appeared mindful of the social distancing ruling where they are to occupy one seat and vacate those with stickers pasted.
Many stayed as far away as they could from others.
Prasarana acting chief executive officer Muhammad Nizam Alias said 95 per cent of passengers wore face masks and adopted social distancing.
The number of passengers at the platforms was controlled, he said, adding that passengers were allowed to board the trains in small groups to avoid overcrowding.
“However, MRT trains, for example, have many doors and we need passengers to remind others against standing too close to one another and refrain from entering if it is full.
“It is important for passengers to wear face masks to minimise their risks as they are travelling in a confined space.”
Nizam said in anticipation of social distancing practice and a spike in passengers, the peak hours in the morning and evening have been extended as the trains cannot take in many passengers.
The peak hours are now from 7am to 11am and 4pm to 7pm and the train frequencies are between three and six minutes to boost capacity.
“This is a new norm where passengers must be ready to wait a little longer.
“They should also plan alternative travel modes because we cannot carry the same number of passengers like before.
“We encourage employers to have flexible working hours so that their staff can clock in a little later to avoid crowding LRT and MRT stations between 7am and 9am.”
Nizam said: “Perhaps employers can allow them to go in between 9am and 11am as we still have good train frequencies during those hours.”