Covid-19

[Merc1107]

I'd be rather more concerned about air-conditioning spreading the virus than the brief exchange from a passenger boarding or alighting.

[rogf24]

Another agency using rear doors in the states.

Meanwhile, in Melbourne, I saw a very stupid set up today. The front seats were blocked off and the front Myki reader was disabled (touch on in rear) but passengers still had to board via front door (well most of the time and at most stops anyway).

[tonyp]

Another agency using rear doors in the states.

I guess that would be a suitable solution for the Australian situation where ramps are mostly at the front door. Bustechs would be a problem though for any other type of passenger with mobility issues.

[boronia]

On an STA bus this morning, the front Opal reader was covered with a sign directing pax to use this interior readers.

But for some reason, the driver wouldn't open the centre door to let people off, everyone had to walk past him again.

[ScaniaGrenda]

I was on a Newcastle Transport bus earlier this week and front door opal machines and front seats were still in use and not blocked off.

We'll see how next week goes.

[boronia]

Today was the first day I encountered this. Was normal yesterday.

[Campbelltown busboy]

Public transport will be a issue until this pandemic is over ether that or a premier might order a state wide 2 week virus isolation lockdown witch will leave all public transport within that state without passengers

[boronia]

Public transport will be a issue until this pandemic is over ether that or a premier might order a state wide 2 week virus isolation lockdown witch will leave all public transport within that state without passengers

If it is state wide, who's going to drive public transport?

[Fleet Lists]

Currently three Princess Cruises vessels are circling outside Sydney heads since yesterday after dropping off passengers yesterday at least the Sun Princess and the Ruby Princess.The third ships is the Sea Princess. The Ruby Princess dropped off some virus passengers before positive test results came back. The Golden Princess has been in Melbourne for at least a day.
There are vessels from other cruise lines outside Sydney as well. And the Queen Elizabeth is stationery along the Queensland coast near Gladstone.

[Campbelltown busboy]

Here is something from the age that popped up as a suggested post on my Facebook newsfeed
https://www.facebook.com/119817336421/p ... 51422/?d=n

[BroadGauge]

Public transport will be a issue until this pandemic is over ether that or a premier might order a state wide 2 week virus isolation lockdown witch will leave all public transport within that state without passengers

Over in the US, the entire San Francisco Bay Area is currently under a shelter in place order (aka you can only leave your house in justified circumstances), but public transport is still running as it's considered to be an essential service.

And public transport staff are allowed to leave their homes to go to work, as they are considered essential workers. BART are actually publicising how many people are using the trains during this order, which is equivalant to around 11-13% of a standard weekday: https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2020/news20200225

[J_Busworth]

With all this talk of a shutdown of all nonessential services from Tuesday, where does that leave transport. I would have presumed transport is a pretty essential service, but its hard to tell whats up these days.

[Linto63]

Intrastate travel it appears will continue to operate, albeit with reduced frequencies as demand dwindles. Interstate will probably shut down, with so far the NT, SA and WA borders confirmed close in the next few days, or require arrivals to self-isolate for 14 days which will have the same effect. NSW TrainLink and V/Line road coach services to Adelaide will presumably cease entirely or be truncated. Greyhound has suspended some Brisbane to Toowoomba services, would expect more will follow.

Journey Beyond has suspended its Ghan, Indian Pacific and Overland services, with the latter likely to be permanent. Am guessing interstate freight services will continue.

[tonyp]

It's worth noting that rear-door boarding is a recommended procedure nationally and internationally. The UITP guideline linked below refers to this in the context of protecting drivers, not only for their own health, but for the effect that increasing absenteeism due to drivers contracting the disease (or needing to be isolated) will have on the ability of operations to continue to deliver the essential service of public transport.

https://www.busnews.com.au/industry-new ... act-advice

https://www.uitp.org/sites/default/file ... rus_EN.pdf

So far in Australian bus operations there has been little haste to act on these recommendations, with exception of the ACT. It does surprise me that the unions are not onto it.

[tonyp]

From the government guidelines, relevant to bus operators using cash fare collection:

Handling of cash
For intermittent handling of cash, the staff member should be advised to perform hand hygiene immediately after handling cash (either soap and water or hand sanitiser, whichever is available). This means hand sanitiser may need to be available to support this across a range of settings that don’t currently have this.
For longer periods of cash handling, the staff member should wear gloves while handling cash, and then carefully remove the gloves and perform hand hygiene at the end of the period of cash handling.
https://preview.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/bus ... facilities

[Campbelltown busboy]

Intrastate travel it appears will continue to operate, albeit with reduced frequencies as demand dwindles. Interstate will probably shut down, with so far the NT, SA and WA borders confirmed close in the next few days, or require arrivals to self-isolate for 14 days which will have the same effect. NSW TrainLink and V/Line road coach services to Adelaide will presumably cease entirely or be truncated. Greyhound has suspended some Brisbane to Toowoomba services, would expect more will follow.

Journey Beyond has suspended its Ghan, Indian Pacific and Overland services, with the latter likely to be permanent. Am guessing interstate freight services will continue.

Add Queensland to the states that are closing their borders so no more Brisbane XPTs for a while

[boronia]

Murrays seem to have dropped their CBR-MEL services, but CBR-SYD and other services appear normal.

[1whoknows]

That must be very recent - Murrays were still running out of Melb on Saturday.

[boronia]

It's worth noting that rear-door boarding is a recommended procedure nationally and internationally. The UITP guideline linked below refers to this in the context of protecting drivers, not only for their own health, but for the effect that increasing absenteeism due to drivers contracting the disease (or needing to be isolated) will have on the ability of operations to continue to deliver the essential service of public transport.

https://www.busnews.com.au/industry-new ... act-advice

https://www.uitp.org/sites/default/file ... rus_EN.pdf

So far in Australian bus operations there has been little haste to act on these recommendations, with exception of the ACT. It does surprise me that the unions are not onto it.

I imagine that unions (and TfNSW) might be embarrassed if they backflip on their long held stance that rear door boarding is "dangerous".

[boronia]

That must be very recent - Murrays were still running out of Melb on Saturday.

It no longer appears on their webpage/booking system, but there is no mention of it being dropped. It's still on their FB page.

What were loadings like?

[Fleet Lists]

The latest from Transport for NSW

Information and advice on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)
Monday 23 March 2020

Transport for NSW understands the critical role that all modes of transport are playing as the state deals with the Coronavirus outbreak.

Public transport is an essential service and Transport for NSW is working with all agencies and private operators to ensure our vital services keep running for all of our customers, especially for health and emergency services.

It is not business as usual at the moment but we know our network remains a critical part of your daily lives and we are committed to keeping these essential services running.

We’ve already seen a reduction in the number of people using public transport, which is helping people comfortably distance themselves from others, helping to limit the spread of Coronavirus on our network.

Transport for NSW has also implemented measures to ensure the safety of our customers and staff travelling on our network across long distances, particularly regionally.

From today NSW TrainLink regional rail and coach customers will be booked in a way to maximise social-distancing where possible.

Automated pedestrian crossings at traffic signals within the Sydney CBD will also be active 24 hours a day from 23 March to help limit the spread of Coronavirus.

The measure means you will not have to push the button at signalised crossings to safely cross the road in the CBD.

See a map of where these new pedestrian crossings are located (pdf 531KB)

It is vital that you continue washing your hands regularly, sneeze into your elbows or clean tissues that are then discarded, and always practice social distancing.

With public safety the top priority for Transport for NSW during the Coronavirus outbreak, the automated pedestrian crossing change is among a series of measures implemented to help limit the spread of Coronavirus.

Other measures taken by Transport include:

Stringent cleaning regimes
Increased public health messaging at stations and Transport offices
The provision of hand sanitiser across high volume stations across the network
Set up of a dedicated COVID-19 incidents and scenarios Taskforce
Staff to validate tickets without contact via Opal card payment
Advice to customers around usage of the rear door Opal card reader and distance between them and our bus drivers
Advice to customers to travel outside peak travel times

Transport for NSW is continuing to work with the freight industry to ensure we don’t see barriers emerge in critical supply chains, across roads, ports and rail.

Transport for NSW is also represented at the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) where it is working closely with other NSW Government departments, including NSW Health to ensure a coordinated approach to managing COVID-19 across the state.

Transport for NSW would like to thank our customers and staff across NSW for their ongoing support during this time.

[Merc1107]

From another thread:

Adelaide public transport patronage levels were at about 30% of what they normally are from my obs.

It's very quiet here in Perth.
Plenty examples of what are usually busy peak services that run 5-15mins late due to combinations of heavy traffic, other late services and loading that are now having to wait for considerable periods of time (5+ minutes) at timed stops en route. Busier daytime services aren't necessarily early, but are keeping good time - the ones I observed are services where cash ticket use is a lot higher, so makes you wonder if the timings for the routes are skewed by lack of ticket transfer records or because passengers are over-using tickets (e.g. one-way tickets or expired return tickets).

[tonyp]

TfNSW has advised that Sydney public transport patronage has dropped 40-45% in the last fortnight.

[boronia]

So far in Australian bus operations there has been little haste to act on these recommendations, with exception of the ACT. It does surprise me that the unions are not onto it.

Considering that the unions and ministries have long preached that rear door loading is "too dangerous", it might be embarrassing to have to back flip now and recommend it?

[normie]

Intrastate travel it appears will continue to operate, albeit with reduced frequencies as demand dwindles. Interstate will probably shut down, with so far the NT, SA and WA borders confirmed close in the next few days, or require arrivals to self-isolate for 14 days which will have the same effect. NSW TrainLink and V/Line road coach services to Adelaide will presumably cease entirely or be truncated. .

Due to restrictions set by the SA Government Firefly Express: Melbourne to Adelaide/Adelaide to Melbourne, will be suspended indefinitely as of Thu 26.03.2020.