ROME: From May 4, an estimated 2.7 million Italians are hoping to head back to work as part of the gradual easing of the lockdown.
At least 15 percent of them will need to use public transport. On Sunday, the government started testing trains, trams, buses and subways to check how social distancing can be assured.
Italy is where Europe’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) trauma first took effect, killing nearly 26,000 people and forcing a strict lockdown that brought social and economic activity to a grinding halt.
How it manages to return to normality will be closely watched by other nations hoping to regain some semblance of “business as usual” in their cities.
Restarting public transport in Italy is a huge challenge, as it is usually overcrowded and inefficient.
“The reopening will be gradual. At the beginning, people will only be allowed to move for work or other justifiable reasons,” said Transport Minister Paola De Micheli while visiting an underground station in Rome, where the distancing service is being tested.
At entrances, staff allowed 30 passengers in every three minutes, making them wait in line at a safe distance.
Only a maximum of 150 passengers will be allowed on each train. Before COVID-19, Rome’s rush hour saw some 1,000 people per train. Blue stripes with dots have been painted on the platform marking the safety distance each passenger must keep.
On Milan’s subway, which usually carries 1.4 million people a day, capacity will be drastically reduced by up to 30 percent. The situation will not be different in Rome, where the underground has never been efficient in normal times. Its trains are infamous for being permanently packed with passengers.
“We are planning some similar restrictions for buses. People will use only the back door to board, for a maximum of 30 passengers per vehicle,” the Mayor of Rome Virginia Raggi told Arab News at the underground station where tests are taking place.
“Rome has to start over again, and we will make sure that people will be able to commute to work in the safest way possible,” she said.
There will be hand sanitizer dispensers on buses, trains and trams and many seats will remain empty. Passengers will be strongly advised, though probably not obliged, to wear masks on public transport. On flights, it is likely that masks will be compulsory, while thermal scanner devices will be set in every airport and station.
People taking taxis will be prohibited from sitting next to the driver and, where there are two passengers or more, will be obliged to wear face masks.
“Normality will only return to the public transport system when a vaccine is developed. For the time being there will be social distancing of 1 meter. Trains and buses will travel with at most 50
percent of seats occupied. There will be personnel to make sure people respect the rules,” De Micheli said.
She believes that the only way to run the system may be to stagger working times. “In Italy’s eight biggest cities, rush hour is between 7:10 a.m. and 7:40 a.m.,” said De Micheli, adding: “We need to decongest this busy period.”
Rumors have been heard of the possible introduction of peak fares for buses and trams, which would be unprecedented in Italy where public transport is highly subsidized and has a national one-fare system.
Italy’s trade unions are concerned about pressures their members will come under in underground stations and on buses.
“We’re expecting 300,000 people to start moving again in Milan, so we’ll need staggered shifts otherwise we won’t be able to guarantee social distancing on trains,” said Luigi Ciraci, from the transport workers’ federation.
“In Rome, there are 8,300 bus stops. We’re worried for our drivers because they will have to decide who can get on and who can’t,” added Massimo Proietti, from the UIL transport union.
To prevent price gouging on products vital for fighting COVID-19, the government will set price limits on face masks. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte could announce that wearing masks will be compulsory for all during the second phase of the COVID-19 recovery plan, when business will gradually open nationwide. Parks could also reopen and the nation can begin working its way out of its most traumatic experience since the Second World War.
“We have to be vigilant: COVID-19 has been weakened but not defeated,” emergency response commissioner Domenico Arcuri told reporters. “We will set the maximum price at which face masks can be sold,” he added.
Prices of masks have rocketed in the past week, and police reported a “blank market” of individual protective devices. Conte said that schools will only reopen in September, and announced that some 150,000 antibody tests would start to be distributed across Italy’s 20 regions on May 4.
“We cannot continue beyond this lockdown as we risk damaging the country’s socio-economic fabric too much.”
