The RMV app has a capacity forecast for every connection.
© Summer
Local public transport is in a difficult position due to the corona pandemic: In many places, passengers stay away for fear of infection. But despite the decline in passengers, our newspaper receives a lot of letters from readers who complain – about full buses, the lack of distance between them, about passengers who do not adhere to the mask requirement.
Offenbach – This is how reader Ines W. asks why articulated buses are not used more often in order to allow more distances within the buses for passengers. You have already observed that older people in particular decided against a trip at the bus stop when the buses were particularly full. And reader Lutz S. complains about the lack of mask discipline in mass transport: “That has to be controlled much more closely – the drivers are behind a partition, but the users are not protected.”
Both the city of Offenbach and the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) emphasize that the state government has overruled the distance rules. However, there is an obligation to wear medical masks in order to minimize the risk of infection. “Public transport plays almost no role as a site of infection,” says Sabine Groß, head of the health and local transport department. In the past ten weeks, the health department was only aware of two cases that may have been infected in public transport.
The fact that the buses are often overcrowded, as readers reported, cannot be proven by the data collected by the city and RMV. “In January, the passenger load, measured against the utilization of the S-Bahn, was 40 percent compared to an average month before Corona, in February it was 43. Since the trend is similar across all modes of transport, it can be assumed that the buses are also currently less than half of the usual passengers before Corona are en route, “says RMV spokeswoman Vanessa Rehermann. The Offenbach bus routes are also far from overcrowded. “In February there was a total occupancy rate of 21 percent across all lines and times of the day,” adds Groß.
The request for more distance on the part of the passengers is understandable, according to the RMV. However, all available vehicles and drivers are already in use at all transport companies, including in Offenbach. In order to replace smaller buses on various lines with articulated buses, which gives passengers more space, there is a lack of vehicles and drivers. “The use of additional buses or articulated buses on other routes is not possible for reasons of capacity,” says City Councilor Groß. However, the transport companies have increased the staff for controls to ensure compliance with the mask requirement. The public order office also points out that checking the mask requirement in the designated areas of the city has top priority.
Groß emphasizes that a lot is being done to ensure that passengers can feel safe. For example, all handles are cleaned several times or ventilation is set. The germicidal paint used by the roundabout company since September on a line in the district for prevention is not used in Offenbach, says Groß. “Infection occurs through the air, so we use antiviral air filters. The new Solaris e-buses already have filters; these will be installed gradually in the old buses. Unfortunately, the manufacturer MAN is delivering these very slowly, ”she says.
Both the traffic department and RMV refer to a digital offer to find out more before starting a journey: The RMV app has a constantly updated load forecast for every connection. With this, so it is said at the network, you have the option to selectively switch to connections that are likely to be less used.
From Frank Sommer
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