Sydneysiders are going to need to give themselves some extra time to travel these next two weeks, as public transport services are being axed by 50 per cent starting today.
Public transport in Greater Sydney, including trains, buses, light rail and ferries, has been reduced to the Sunday service for the next two weeks as we remain under stay at home orders.
Transport for NSW chief operations officer Howard Collins has called on Sydneysiders to avoid public transport where possible during lockdown.
“For people who have no choice and have to use public transport – those essential workers, those nurses, those medical people, police – we’ll be operating a very different service than you’ve used before,” he said.
The changes are a relief for some public transport staff, who are working as an essential service during a time where demand for public transport is a lot lower. With decreased transport services, they’ll be required to work less, and therefore are less likely to be exposed to positive COVID cases.
On the flip side, this probably isn’t good news for people that *have* to use public transport for work or other essential reasons. With less public transport services available, it doesn’t just mean it’ll take longer to get to places – it also means that people won’t be as spread out over the usual amount of services.
It’s not ideal for social distancing, but hopefully the stay at home orders mean most of us don’t need to be out and about anyway.
Of these locally acquired cases, 61 are linked to a known case or cluster – 43 are household contacts and 18 are close contacts – and the source of infection for 37 cases is under investigation.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 19, 2021
The (kind of) good news is, as of Monday 19 July, NSW recorded 98 new local cases – which is less than the 100+ new cases we’ve been recording on previous days.
The Greater Sydney lockdown restrictions are currently set to remain until 30 July, but will likely be extended depending on case numbers and community transmission of COVID. You can read about the current Greater Sydney COVID restrictions here.
