Buses can ferry only 25 with social distancing

Buses can ferry only 25 with social distancing

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

11.05.2020

Starting services at a reduced scale with social distancing in the initial days to increasing frequency after a few weeks seem to be the norm that transport authorities are looking at to restart buses, metro rail trains, suburban trains and MRTS services in the city after shutdown.

MTC and metro rail are ready with social distancing norms but railways is yet to decide on the modalities to resume services as Southern Railway is waiting for a nod from the Union ministry.

Metro rail train will carry only 160 commuters while MTC has started to number the seats to allow social distancing. Suburban trains may not allow too many standing commuters. However, officials and staff worry whether they will be able to handle if there is overcrowding at bus stops and railway stations during delays.

The state government has started groundwork to resume bus services – within the city and between cities. Government-run transport corporations across Tamil Nadu have held small-scale meeting with their employees on Friday and Saturday to discuss preparedness.

Dharmendra Pratap Yadav, the state transport secretary, on Thursday sent a circular to all the corporations explaining the standard operating procedures (SOPs) to be followed for operating government buses after lockdown was lifted.

The circular recommended operation of limited number of bus services initially and change frequencies depending on the demand.

Conductors were instructed to ensure that the seat occupancy did not exceed 50% at any point of time, distance between two standing passengers was at least 6 feet. This indicated that only 25 people (sit-20 and stand-5) can travel in an MTC bus in Chennai.

A Arunagirinathan, a conductor, said it will be difficult to handle crowds at bus stops, particularly if they had waited for long. They will not listen to us and get inside, he said. Similar is the sentiment of railway officials.

As far as autos were concerned, in some districts outside Chennai, they were already in operation informally as it was the only transportation mode available with no buses and trains. But they are allowed to carry only one passenger at a time and cases are booked in case they violated this.

But in Chennai, even share autos, which transport 7-10 passengers at a time, have started operations with lockdown relaxations coming into effect one by one. Since they are not recognised as a separate category of vehicle, there is no clarity on how to formulate social distancing norms for them, said a state transport department official.