Irish Examiner View: Public transport under threat

The future of commuting

Bus Éireann driver Tim Donovan on board a bus with social distancing in place earlier in the pandemic, when passenger numbers 'fell off a cliff'. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

It remains to be seen how the Government will reconcile its call to avoid public transport with the need to bus children to school in a fortnight. 

Whatever measures are introduced to address the apparent contradiction, the underlying question remains the same – how can public transport ride out the pandemic?

Covid-19 has already inflicted catastrophic damage on the public transport network. 

Passenger numbers “fell off a cliff” for most of March and April, according to Tim Gaston, director of public transport services at the National Transport Authority. 

“We went from pushing 1m passengers a day to very low numbers; just under 100,000 at one point,” he said.

We all recall the ghost buses, trams and trains in our cities which, during the early days of lockdown, carried none but essential workers. The numbers picked up with the gradual lifting of restrictions but social distancing requirements cut capacity in half, at least.

Now, public transport will again take a hit as the Government advises against it under new restrictions to combat the spread of coronavirus. As work patterns change, with greater numbers working from home, fewer will be commuting.

But there is still a role for an invigorated public transport system, post-recovery. 

As transport authorities around the world have pointed out, now is the time to invest in safe, sustainable and socially distanced public transport to avoid a damaging return to the private car.