RTC officials gear up to run buses after lockdown

RTC officials gear up to run buses after lockdown

Seats are rearranged to ensure social distancing

16/05/2020, HARISH GILAI,VISAKHAPATNAM

Workers arranging seats in an RTC bus at Maddilapalem RTC depot in Visakhapatnam on Friday.K.R. DeepakK.R. Deepak

As part of the preparedness for post lockdown scenario, officials from the APSRTC Visakhapatnam region are arranging seats in buses in a way that physical distancing is ensured among passengers. The works are being carried out at all major depots in Visakhapatnam district since the last couple of days.

According to APSRTC Regional Manager, Visakhapatnam, M.Y Danam, if at all the government instructs them to start limited bus services in the coming days, they must be prepared. As such the seats in the buses are arranged ensuring social distancing and they will have new seat numbers.

In one prototype, some seats in the buses are marked with cross mark with white paint to ensure that no person is allowed to sit beside one another. One seat must be vacant in between two passengers, he said.

In another prototype for a few buses like Deluxe and Super Luxury, we are removing some seats as part of social distancing. In a line, there would be only three seats with gap in between the passengers, he added.

“Apart from arrangement of the seats, while boarding a bus, passengers should wash their hands with sanitiser. For this, we will be arranging sanitiser in the bus itself,” the Regional Manager told The Hindu.

Till now, there has been no decision announced by the Union government about public transport system which came to a halt since March 24, due to COVID-19 crisis. However there were several indications that the country would soon see buses resuming services only in orange and green zones. The Centre is likely to announce its decision before May 17. According to a senior official from the APSRTC, post lockdown, passengers who booked tickets in online only may be allowed.