Making public transit safe is the next hurdle in easing lockdowns
In cities around the world, public transportation systems are key to getting workers back on the job and restarting devastated economies. Yet methods of getting around, ranging from trains and buses to ferries and bicycles, will have to be re-imagined for the coronavirus era.
In Europe in particular, mass transit is shaping up as a new focus of governments working to get their countries back on track while responding to the pandemic that now has a death toll of over 120,000 people across the continent.
In the capitals of hard-hit Italy, Spain, France and Britain, standing cheek-tojowl with fellow commuters was as much a part of the morning routine in precoronavirus times as a steaming shot of espresso or a crispy croissant.
That’s going to have to change as authorities try to address economic considerations without losing any hard-won gains that social distancing strategies achieved in controlling the spread of the virus.
Solutions include putting red stickers on the floor to tell bus travelers in Milan how far apart to stand. The Dutch are putting on longer, roomier trains and many cities including Berlin are opening up more lanes to cyclists. In Britain, bus passengers are entering through the middle or rear doors to reduce the virus risks for drivers.
Announcing a gradual easing of France’s strict lockdown, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe called public transport a “key measure for the economic recovery” yet acknowledged concerns among passengers.
“I understand the apprehension of a good number of our compatriots before taking a metro, a train, a bus, a tram, which are sometimes very densely packed,” he said.
In New York, where millions normally ride on crowded subways, buses and suburban trains daily but where ridership has fallen more than 90 percent, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered officials to submit a plan for how train and subway cars will be disinfected every night, building on an enhanced cleaning regime put in place in early March.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority head Patrick Foye said last week that the MTA is also looking at other measures including expanding a program that has already performed temperature checks on 35,000 MTA employees. Foye urged government and business officials to consider including staggered work hours in any plans to reopen businesses, to help reduce crowding.
Amtrak, which carried more than 12 million passengers on its Boston-toWashington, D.C. trains in the most recent fiscal year, already has limited bookings to 50 percent of capacity and restricted some seating areas in rail cars. Going forward, it will offer enhanced services on its mobile apps to reduce contact points; one would allow passengers to pre-order food to pick up on board, to reduce waiting time in the dining car.
When and how to ease restrictions, keep people safe and prevent a second wave of infections is a matter of intense debate around the world.
“There will never be a perfect amount of protection,” said Josh Santarpia, a microbiology expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Center who is studying the coronavirus. “It’s a personal risk assessment. Everybody has to decide, person by person, what risk they’re willing to tolerate.”
As restrictions loosen, health authorities will be watching closely for any sign of a resurgence of the virus. Germany has reported a slight uptick in the infection rate since some small businesses were allowed to reopen just over a week ago, but authorities said it was too soon to say whether the loosening was to blame.