Public Transport and Feeder Modes considering Social Distancing Norms
Public transport which include buses and metro plays major role in people mobility in urban and rural areas of India. Presently, around 10 cities are having operational metro network with a total network of more than 700 kilometers and about 525 metro stations. Similarly, more than 1.6 million buses are registered in India, and the public bus sector operates 170,000 buses carrying roughly 70 million people per day. During the present prevailing COVID-19 pandemic situation, there may be high risk for commuters travelling by metro and bus and chances of spreading of virus are also very high. As recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) and Government Health Ministries recommended to maintain social distance of 6 feet to control the spread of the virus through person-to-person. In Delhi, more than 80 lakh trips are made by public transport i.e. Bus and Metro in a day. It’s always been a challenge to manage the gap between demand and supply of commuting. This gap is going to be further widened due to COVID pandemic requiring the social distancing practices. In view of this, a systematic and strategic approach is required to be adopted to move ahead during the COVID19 pandemic. A gradual change in demand/ supply and adoption of circumstances by commuters is expected. The great challenge of both sides has to be dealt with carefully.
