COVID Chat series 2020 : Post COVID-19 Passenger Transport for a safe return (May 21, 2020)

COVID Chat series 2020

Amidst COVID, the Centre took part in ‘Chat’ series on the following topics exploring the impact of COVID in the industry. Dr. Dorothy Chan, Head of Centre for Logistics and Transport organized ‘Chat’ sessions during COVID in 2020 with Women in Logistics and Transport (WiLAT) in the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) such that the industry could respond to the challenges by learning from each other.

Impact on Human Behavior and Society (March 26, 2020)

Coping strategies for the home bound (April 2, 2020)

Technologies enables social distancing (April 9, 2020)

Farm to store logistics impact (April 23, 2020)

PPE and Hygiene Best Practice (April 30, 2020)

Post COVID-19 Passenger Transport for a safe return (May 21, 2020)

Re-opening of airports and Preparation (May 28, 2020)

Port Re-opening and Maritime Industry (June 4, 2020)

The chat sessions were organized by Women in Logistics and Transport, a forum under the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.

CHAT ON COVID-19: Post COVID-19 Passenger Transport for a safe return

Thursday, 21 May 2020

Normalizing for Post COVID19 in Sri Lanka

As COVID-19 was under control in several regions, cities that been locked down for months are now be questioning how to arrange a safe return.

The normalizing methodology applied in Sri Lanka consists of: Planning, Regulation, Implementation and Enforcement.

Sri Lanka has planned for a stage-wise resumption of passenger transport operation in the country. To gradually restore travel and work and keeping the health and safety of the people as top priority while recognizing their livelihoods are equally important. Eliminating the possibility of spreading deadly virus through transport services is a key factor until the eradication of the virus from the country.

The first step for normalizing is to decide the stages of operation with the health authorities. Sri Lanka has divided the operation into 4 different stages. Currently, Sri Lanka is performing under Stage One, within district only. After review, the operation will go to the next stage, within province, and then expanded to between 2 provinces after review and lastly among multiple provinces.

Stage One is still ongoing in Sri Lanka as curfew is enforced in specific districts and Red Zones or Districts with High Risk Zones categorized by Health Authorities exist. Transport demand decreased as Government entities and private establishments are operated with limited number not exceeding 30% of the total no. of employees and only selective economic activities are allowed. Supporting bus operation is only provided for employees of Public and Private Sector within districts and commuters are encouraged to use private vehicles to reach their workplaces.

When there are no more districts that was under curfew and Red Zones or Districts with High Risk Zones categorized by Health Authorities within province, after review, Sir Lanka will transit to Stage Two to permit travel within province. The transport demand will be determined based on the percentage of resumption of Government entities and private establishments and whether more economic activities will be allowed. Support bus operation only for employees of Public and Private Sector can be expanded to within Province, the rest of the transport operation in Stage One will remain in Stage Two.

When more provinces get into Stage Two, Sri Lanka will start to review and apply Stage Three in selected provinces which have no curfew enforcement and red zones. Public transportation will be reopened to normal passengers with restrictions and the support bus operation will go between selected provinces. Registered passengers as employees transported by Railway with expanded operation to national level.

When all provinces run at Stage Three, and all economic activities are allowed, Sri Lanka will seek to spread out the peak hour peak demand and some transport demand management strategies such as flexible work hours, home office, will be introduced. To ensure establishment of a new culture of public transportation several measures in line with health guidelines will be introduced and initiatives will be taken to establish people centric public transport services through supply and demand management strategies for the transport sector.

Based on the current Stage One operation, Sri Lanka government will estimate transport demand. The estimate will be carried out base on numbers of motorized trips and by trip purpose. Sri Lanka assume that there will be 30% work trips in the current stage with planned peak period for 3 hours. The government will review the level of occupancy allowed when planning operation strategy. To review supply needed based on demand, type of operator used and the details of coverage by each operator at the current stage. After review, the government will publish the Operation Guidelines and regulations related to COVID Operations.

Clear information to the public from different methods are important when the guidelines and regulation are published, and the government will collect feedback from public and the operators by survey to update the operation plans. Will also need to determine the penalty for violations to make sure that operators obey the regulations.

Progressing from one stage to another will need an update on health conditions and the need of economic activities. After review, Sri Lanka will start to plan for the next stage.

Safe Returns – the Hong Kong and China Intercity perspective

Local transport was on-going but cross boundary was suspended in Hong Kong. Public awareness is high and HK public is wearing masks although it is not compulsory. The MTR applied bacterial coating on surface that is frequently touched by passengers; and clean the surface regularly. The masks supply was limited in early February. PPE stock becomes strategic for better protection on the employees.

MTR provides PPE/masks and sanitizers for their employees at front line/back office areas and vehicle of conveyance to protect their employees. Also reminding their employees have self-protection when interacting with customers. Also, MTR keeps monitoring the employees’ temperature and travel record to create a safe working area to protect employees. MTR employees are grouped under a strict shift system which allows easy tracking so that employees could be identified when one of them are infected Normal services will be maintained by the other two teams.

To prevent infection, there will be temperature check in the High-Speed Railway stations and reminders to put on face masks. MTR also apply nano coating and disinfection gel on surface to prevent transmission. MTR done some health promotion online, on station and conveyance, to educate and communicate along customer journey. At the beginning, the High-speed railway reserved alternate rows of seats for keeping distance between passengers. After the COVID-19 are under control in China, High-speed railway now reserved about 20 seats in a dedicated carriage for quarantine.

MTR will determine the lead time for re-opening with the government. Phased approach will be applied for re-opening for prudence and to commensurate with demand. Bubble Strategy will be considered of which the low risk province / region are bubbles for service resumption. The re-opening progress can be arranged between clean bubbles.

Concluding remarks

It is expected that both Sri Lanka and Hong Kong would resume normal business in phases. Experience suggests that personal protection and staying vigilant over personal hygiene are very important. Some of the questions that we would be asking from a passenger transport point of view are:

a) would there be easing of the peak travel demand in the future when new work pattern emerges;

b) assuming that the virus will stay for a while, how we can help our public transport users to remain alert on hygiene measures;

c) can innovation and technology help in a post coronavirus urban environment;

d) how swiftly we can respond to future crisis.

Dorothy Chan

WiLAT Global Chairperson

Head, Centre for Logistics and Transport, HKU SPACE