COVID-19 is a highly contagious respiratory virus originated from Wuhan city of China. It has triggered the disruption of human activities and affected the world economy badly. Most of the activities have come to standstill due to the prevention measures imposed by the lockdowns. During the first wave, other countries were surprised about the immunity of Indians against this deadly virus. In the second wave, India is one of the most affected countries in the second wave of coronavirus. It is believed that illness caused during the second wave is by a mutated virus. While the second wave is still devastating and taking lives of people, the third wave is all set to be hit by a variant of mutated virus that can be more powerful.

This fast-mutating nature of the corona virus has left medical practitioners and researchers surprised and confused. There are many theories stating the reasons for fast mutation such as lack of precautions and preventive measures, improper usage of medicines, crowding, incapability of managing the pandemic by governments, or lack of health infrastructure. Whatever the reason, right now it is crucial to take necessary precautions to fight against this challenging virus.

Public transport is the worst hit sector by COVID-19 and the target sector affected by the restrictions. Governments across the world have imposed full or partial restrictions on public transport such as buses, trains, metro and airline services. Public transport is seen as a major potential virus spreading zone due to limited space, prolonged exposure, recirculation of air etc. It is highly impossible to restrict this service for a longer time. Therefore, public transport is one of the early sectors allowed to operate immediately after lockdowns with all the necessary precautions and restrictions. These include frequent cleaning of vehicles, temperature checks for staff and passengers, physical distancing, compulsory face masks, improved ventilation, stop skipping, cancelling certain services, contact less ticketing and payments etc.

Research studies (Gkiotsalitis & Cats, 2020) have proposed three levels of planning namely Strategic Planning, Tactical Planning and Operational Planning to manage the public transport services efficiently during this pandemic situation and to minimize COVID-19 spread. Post-lockdown in the second wave, there is an inherent responsibility of transport service providers and users to adhere to the safety and precaution instructions issued by governments, transport organizations and health departments to contain the spread of this deadly virus.

International Examples

Most of the nations have placed precautionary measures and safety instructions to passengers and public transport service providers to be followed during this pandemic situation. Further, the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a series of health and safety precautions to contain the virus spread. C40 Knowledge hub has listed some of the effective international examples implemented in the management of public transport in various countries and states to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 such as: Cities like Rio de Janeiro, Lagos and Lima imposed restrictions on buses to only carry sitting passengers with reduced capacity. London has made extra spaces in the bus stops to ensure physical distancing among the travelers. The elements such as seat covers and carpets which are more susceptible to virus contamination are removed in Bogotá to ease the disinfection process. In cities like Paris, Cape Town have placed sanitizers in stops and vehicles. Wearing face masks is made mandatory for passengers in Germany and failing to which are punished with fines. To identify people who are exposed to COVID-19, Shanghai and Nanjing have placed QR codes on public transport. A mobile app is developed to inform travelers about the presence of social distance of 2m in the approaching public transport vehicles in Auckland. Temporary lanes are installed for public transport in response to the pandemic situation in Barcelona. Smart card data validations used for contact tracing in public transport in Washington DC metro.

Lockdown measures in India

During the first wave of covid, a nationwide lockdown was imposed to contain the virus spread and was successful to great extent. At the initial phase of lockdown, strict restrictions were imposed on public transport such as buses, railways, metros and airways. Once the situation was in control, public transport was allowed to operate with reduced occupancy, frequent sanitization, social distancing, mandatory face mask, temperature checks, sanitizer dispensers at the stops, contactless ticketing and payments etc. But in the second wave, instead of nationwide lockdown, state wise lockdowns are imposed depending on the COVID situation in the respective states. With this, restrictions on public transport are imposed based on the discretion and situation prevailing in the state. For instance, in Karnataka, metro services are suspended and only limited buses and trains are allowed. In Delhi, public buses and metro are allowed to operate with 50% seating capacity. Uttar Pradesh government allows bus services only within the state and is instructed to follow safety precautions and sanitization protocols. Maharashtra government has allowed public transport for only essential and emergency services. Tamil Nadu government issued instructions for metros, trains, buses and taxis to ply with 50% occupancy. Himachal Pradesh had suspended the public transport completely until further notification to check the spread of virus. West Bengal has closed metro services, and the general public is not allowed to use trains and buses. These restrictions have greatly affected the movement of essential workers and commodities across the country. In Bihar, public transport is allowed with only 50% occupancy. In Telangana, transport services are allowed to operate between 6 am to 10 am. Kerala has allowed transport services only for essential goods and emergency services. Likewise, all the states which have imposed full or partial lockdowns have placed restrictions on public transport in one or the other form such as wearing face masks, temperature checks and sanitizations while using it.

We can prescribe some guidelines based on experience so far and evidences for post-lockdown to follow and help in reducing the intensity of second wave and avoid the high tides of third wave:

Guidelines for public transport users

a. Wearing masks should be made compulsory in public transport. Proper mask usage is must while using public transport and related services.

b. Practice social distancing norms while using public transport and allied services such as stations. As per the safety guidelines, 1.5 meter to 2-meter physical distancing is safe to avoid contracting the infection.

c.  Please provide contact information if asked by public transport officials for the purpose of contact tracing which helps in identifying potential infected persons.

d. Please avail the services of online ticket booking, contactless payments and smart cards while traveling in public transport.

e. Appropriate travel information and instructions to be made aware of.

Safety measures to be ensured by public transport service providers

a. Frequent sanitization of public transport vehicles and allied infrastructure to avoid spread of virus and infection.

b. Proper mask usage should be made mandatory for all the public transport staff and transport users. Failure of which should be penalized with fines.

c. Regular temperature checks should be done for staff and public transport users. Automatic temperature detectors and sanitizer dispensers should be installed at the stations.

d. Frequent transport services should be provided at least till the pandemic situation is reduced to avoid overcrowding in stations and vehicles.

e. Station skipping can be done to avoid crowding at the vehicles and scientific method of scheduling and station skipping should be put in place to avoid overcrowding and at the same not denying the transport services to users.

f. Adequate travel information should be made available periodically to transport users. This helps users to plan their travel accordingly and reduce unnecessary crowding at the transport infrastructures.

g. Avoid recirculation of the same air inside the vehicles and ensure adequate ventilation which allows fresh air to pass through.

h. Keep sanitizer dispensers everywhere at the stations.

All the above instructions and suggestions are the outcome of research studies happening across the world about avoiding the risk of COVID spread. These instructions will greatly help in minimizing the virus spread and infection though may not completely eliminate the risk. These restrictions may be reduced once the universal vaccination is completed and these recurring waves of corona are shortened. Further, with these safety precautions, other common health issues caused by pathogens can be reduced. With all these precautions the COVID’s second wave can be reduced and the third wave can be stopped before it hits hard. It is always better to take precautions instead of prescriptions. With proper safety measures, public transport can be restarted or made fully operational.

Acknowledgement

The author wishes to thank Prof. G Ramesh and team at Indiachapter.in for reviewing the article.

References

1. https://www.c40knowledgehub.org/s/article/Public-transport-after-COVID-19-re-building-safe-and-connected-cities?language=en_US

2. Gkiotsalitis, K., & Cats, O. (2020). Public transport planning adaption under the COVID-19 pandemic crisis: literature review of research needs and directions. Transport Reviews, 1-19.

3. https://www.uitp.org/news/achieving-excellence-with-clean-and-safe-public-transport-uitp-partners-with-issa-and-gbac/

4. https://www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/2021/may/22/covid-culpability-a-conspiracy-of-silence-2305795.html

5. https://thebulletin.org/2021/05/the-origin-of-covid-did-people-or-nature-open-pandoras-box-at-wuhan/

 

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