The NSW Government has announced new rules for public transport as people slowly trickle back in to work and in short, we’ll still be socially distancing for the foreseeable future.
Buses will be limited to just 12 passengers. Meanwhile, only 32 people will be allowed on each Waratah train carriage, and 245 people at a time will be let on ferries.
Apps like TripView and Google Maps are being updated to more accurately show capacity.
“I don’t want to see a mass transit system in Australia or in Sydney, a global city, driving infection and people die,” NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance said on Monday morning.
“We need to do this safely.”
There will also be police posted at stations around the city to make sure people don’t ignore the rules.
“In terms of policing measures that we can put in place, we do have the capacity to look at the numbers of people who are on train platforms and entering stations,” Constance added.
“If we have to close a station for 15 to 20 minutes, we have that option.”
Similarly, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys said if a 13th person got on a bus, “the bus will not be going anywhere”.
Because more people are expected to drive, the government is building a pop-up carpark at Moore Park and urging people to commute outside of peak hours.
But first and foremost, Constance asked people to simply walk or cycle to work. Not only is it safer than public transport, but it doesn’t create traffic jams like driving does.
The government is building 10 kilometres of temporary cycle lanes to encourage this.
Before the pandemic, around 2.2 million people rode on Sydney’s public transport network each day.
With the new restrictions, the network’s capacity will be slashed to around 550,000 passengers per day.
