Public transport is all about trust
In the current health crisis, public transport continues to play a significant role in not only connecting healthcare workers and other essential workers to their jobs but also in connecting members of the public with healthcare services.
Will the public transport sector be able to earn the public’s trust once again?
Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) CEO William Dachs believes that the agency is slowly working on getting commuters back onto its network. Dachs joined epidemiologist Professor Salim Abdool Karim, United Commuters Voice chairperson Paul Soto and Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) acting CEO Tshepo Kgare in a webinar on 20 July to highlight the importance of a safe and effective public transport system.
In the current health crisis, public transport continues to play a significant role in not only connecting healthcare workers and other essential workers to their jobs but also in connecting members of the public with healthcare services. Gauteng MEC of Public Transport and Roads Infrastructure Jacob Mamabolo has continued to monitor and observe the practices implemented by the public transport sector.
According to Karim, who is also on the Covid-19 ministerial advisory committee, while the peak is expected to occur somewhere in the next six to eight weeks, it can all change with the help of a much stronger adherence to the prevention measures. “There is no question that the public transport sector plays a key role not just for the economy but also to ensure that people get to health services. We need to ensure that public transport is a mechanism that is do-able and done safely,” he said.
Karim noted that it is up to the commuters and the operator to follow the regulations. “Given that the virus itself cannot spread on its own, it needs humans to move it from one place to another and because public transport is often in a confined space it really presents many challenges,” said Karim.
He added that it one of the challenges includes ensuring that social distancing practices are adhered to when commuters move to enter, sit inside and disembark a vehicle. It remains important for the public transport sector to get a handle on this because the committee has noticed in various countries aboard that public transport is playing a role in the transmission of the virus. According to Dachs, the GMA has taken active steps in ensuring that social distancing practices are continually encouraged and adhered to.
In many cases, GMA has encouraged many of its commuters not to travel unnecessarily, which a big step is coming from a transport operator. This has proven to be useful as the agency has experienced an increase drop in the number of commuters on its network.
“Normally in the period from the end of March up until today (20 July) we probably would have transported about 4 million people, and I think we have only done about 12 per cent of that [480 000],” said Dachs.
He added that the GMA views public transportation as a partnership between the commuter and the operator. “We make sanitisers available, dissect our trains and buses after each trip, ensure that our air conditioners are in good quality and able to prove adequate ventilation, but ultimately it comes down to people and how they behave,” Dachs said.
According to Paul Soto, chairperson of the provincial United Commuters Voice, its members have remained “disciplined” in following the Covid-19 laws and regulations.
“For us it has been about being able to accommodate the numbers and be sure that however many people arrive we can transport them as safely as possible,” added Dachs.
Related article:
https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/274292/gautrain-inspections-under-way/
