No recommendations apply on buses, they are full of passengers

Bus stop / Photo: EPA-EFE / GEORGI LICOVSKI

Crowds, crowds, nervous drivers and even more nervous passengers, who after a long wait are forced to ride in crowded buses despite the danger of sewing the coronavirus. This is what the bus transport in Skopje looks like a little over a year ago. Throughout this period, passengers who regularly or occasionally use bus services, appeal to the competent institutions to introduce more frequent bus lines and thus reduce congestion in vehicles. They ask the authorities in this period when a decision is made to ban grouping and when cafes and bars are closed, to find a way and reduce the possibility of grouping passengers on buses.

Passengers on some bus lines in Skopje are outraged by the inability, as they say, to reach the desired destination safely and daily fear that they will be infected with coronavirus due to the inability to keep the recommended distance. Passengers who regularly use public transport are afraid that the bus also transports citizens who go for coronavirus testing, and in the vehicles, due to the crowds, the distance can not be maintained. An additional problem is created by passengers who refuse to wear masks, which the authorities say they are powerless to remove from the bus if they have paid for a ticket.

- At a time when the hospitals are full, and there are more and more of our fellow citizens infected with the coronavirus, all of us who are transported by bus every day, are at risk of becoming infected. It is impossible to maintain any distance on the bus because a huge number of passengers use the transport. The worst situation is in the early morning and in the period when people return home from work - testified a passenger from Aerodrom.

Passengers are asking the authorities to increase the number of buses that run daily through the streets of the capital and thus reduce bus congestion. According to them, the situation has become even more alarming since the curfew was introduced, so that almost everyone who left without a car, should get home as soon as possible.

The City of Skopje says that they as an institution and JSP "Skopje" adhere to the decisions of the Government and the recommendations of the Commission for Infectious Diseases, regarding the percentage of passengers allowed in public transport.

- We as an institution only adhere to these decisions and do not make them. As the City of Skopje, we monitor the situation regarding the use of public transport on a daily basis, by controlling the used tickets. Through these statistics we can determine whether larger congestions are created on certain lines and in certain terms. Where we detect that more congestion is created, we intervene by increasing the number of buses - informed by the City of Skopje.

The City explains that, from the aspect of control, the City of Skopje has strengthened the inspections, and that results in an increased number of fines for the persons who do not have a ticket.

- Regarding passengers who drive without a mask, there are no mechanisms for our inspectors to remove these people - are decisive from the City.

 

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