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  • the jewel challenges of keeping people safe on public transport and keeping public transport financially viable.

  • Both look formidable at the moment.

  • The UK government's advice is to only use public transport when there's no alternative.

  • But the number of passengers is rising, albeit slowly.

  • We're gonna hear from travelers and what they're experiencing in France, Russia and Hong Kong in a moment.

  • But we're gonna start in the UK numbers maybe up.

  • But footfall last week and the busiest stations were still 10% of pre pandemic levels.

  • Let's hear from the BBC's transport correspondent Tom Burridge more services this morning, but not many passengers.

  • Nobody here is back every day, every time.

  • Now you can see nobody since the coffee 19 started.

  • I used to be very, very busy this ever this train station.

  • But you say you can see in these less than about 20 people know how troubling it does stress you out.

  • I mean, I don't sit worrying about There's not much you can do except try and be careful.

  • But I mean, if you think about it too much, you know, it's it is worrying.

  • Small stations like this one in Nottingham deserted, but measures are in place to manage larger numbers at major stations and on trains, new messages, these social distancing and since on more staff directing you around, they will also limit passenger numbers.

  • If they judge that there's already enough people on board a particular train, then they might block the gates off here, and other people will have to wait for the next service.

  • And as well as those measures, some long distance trains are ticket only.

  • And in the future, people may be required to book a time slot for when they arrive at a station, while from the UK to Frantz, which, too is eased, restrictions his hero, Scofield in Paris, a week after the end of the look down here in Paris, the Metro as well as the tram and the bus services are operating it around 3/4 percent.

  • On the metro system, there are still 60 out of 300 stations that are closed, and on several lines there are fewer trains than normal.

  • But the big change on the metro as well as the tram and the bus service, is that capacity has been reduced at a blow by 50% by the fact that on every second seat, now there's a sticker saying, Please do not sit here because off the off the Corona virus masks are compulsory everywhere on the public transport system.

  • And there's also a rule saying that if you travel in Russia in peak times in the morning and the evening, you have to have a form an authorization from your employer, saying that you have no choice but to travel at at peak time.

  • Many people were predicting chaos, overcrowding, impossible to observe, social distancing and so on, in fact, hasn't been like that at all.

  • In fact, the numbers of people traveling on the public transport system here are way, way down on pre virus levels, suggesting that many people, most people, maybe, are heeding the government's advice and continuing where they can tow work from home.

  • Well, from Hugh in Paris to Natalia, is it over from BBC Russian in Moscow?

  • Public transport in Moscow has not been affected by the epidemic.

  • Buses, trams and suburban friends still depart regularly, though there nearly empty.

  • There are considerably fewer passengers on the Moscow metro, too.

  • Though it's Moscow's main public transport system.

  • Everyone in the carriage is able to sit down even during rush hour.

  • Two months ago, it would have been impossible.

  • It is compulsory to wear a face, mask and gloves while traveling.

  • You can buy these at all stations.

  • Moscow Metro was accused of selling the protective gear at inflated prices, which it denies well, Our final stop is Hong Kong.

  • It's been relatively successful in containing the virus, but public transport remains a challenge.

  • His Laura Westbrook from the South China Morning Post.

  • Who's there?

  • Here in Hong Kong, many people have returned to work and the daily commutes.

  • The first thing you'll notice is that everyone wears a mosque.

  • In fact, the Hong Kong government has promised to distribute free reusable mosques, toe all Hong Kong residents on trains.

  • There's not a lot of social distancing, and they can get quite packed, especially during peak hours.

  • However, at train stations, handrails, ticket machines and even lift buttons are disinfected with bleach every two hours on the trains themselves.

  • When they reach the end of the line, staff quickly disinfect the carriages, and they're clean more thoroughly overnight.

  • There's also a robot that sprays vaporized disinfectant throughout the carriages.

  • Now, people here are pretty strict about their personal hygiene.

  • At most public places, that's free hand sanitizer that people can use.

  • However, the first thing I do when I get to work is wash my hands.

  • To state the obvious, the issue of public transport is not gonna be easily resolved.

  • Many of the biggest urban public transport systems are built around.

  • The idea that people can be crammed in on the current easing of locked down still leaves us a long, long way away from being able to do that.

  • This Washington Post story really cuts to it, the headline reads.

  • Subways, trains and buses are sitting empty around the world.

  • It's not clear whether riders will return, and as the article highlights, there really a couple of major issues here.

  • First and foremost, how do you keep passengers and staff safe?

  • But by doing that, inevitably, passenger numbers have to be far lower.

  • If that happens, revenues collapse on public transport systems of relying on huge and regular income streams, which means in the medium term, either national or regional governments need to provide extra cash.

  • Well, the whole thing doesn't add up, and some services may have to stop But even if the funding is found, that's to assume that in the end the people on the revenue will return.

  • And that's not necessarily a safe assumption.

  • Many of the biggest public transport systems in the world have lost 80% of their passengers.

  • Some of those people are, of course, a home, But others are traveling but avoiding public transport on for understandable reasons.

  • Have a look at this.

  • This is a widely quoted study from Southeast University in Nanjing.

  • Looking at the outbreaks of covert 19 in China, it found 1/3 of our breakfast involved exposure on public transport, and it concluded that being inside is a huge factor in most outbreaks.

  • On also wanted to show you this from a U.

  • S software company.

  • It's where so many studies urgently investigating how Kobe, 19 could be spread in confined spaces.

  • And we already know enough to understand that a pack train carriage and is not gonna be a good place to bay.

  • What all of this will have significant consequences for not just how often we use public transport, but also how instead, perhaps, we use cars, bikes, scooters and so on.

  • That in turn, may.

  • Well, if that's how we design how we all move around.

  • Lots of unknowns here.

  • However, one thing we can be sure of is that while some elements of normal life maybe resembling soon, squeezing onto a train, bus or subway is probably not going to be one of them.

the jewel challenges of keeping people safe on public transport and keeping public transport financially viable.

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