Coronavirus pandemic: Transport ministry outlines safety measures for Bucharest subway

The Transport Ministry has drafted several recommendations and measures meant to prevent the crowding of the subway stations and trains after May 15, when the traffic is expected to increase as the state of emergency will be replaced with the state of alert.

Among the recommended measures is a one-meter safety distance between travelers, transport minister Lucian Bode said. The minister announced that employees of the Interior Affairs Ministry (MAI) would support Metrorex, the operator of the Bucharest subway, in ensuring that the safety distance is maintained at the entrance of stations, Agerpresreported.

“Some 600,000 – 700,000 people used the subway daily before the [coronavirus] crisis. The work schedule is still flexible in most cases. During the busiest times, we will have, besides our security staff, the support of the MAI employees to ensure the flow of passengers and maintain the distance at the entrance of the stations, to avoid overcrowding the access to the trains,” Bode said.

Pipera, Victoriei, and Unirii stations are the most crowded, Bode explained.

He said the ministry was also looking at the safety measures taken in other countries, including marking the subway seats that travelers can use.

“It is a complicated process but not an impossible one. I’m not ruling it out, but I would like to see in the first days after May 15 how the rules will be followed. Some restrictions can be lifted, or new ones can be introduced, depending on how the situation at the subway evolves,” Bode explained.

The minister said waiting times at the subway would vary between 2-3 minutes to 12 minutes.

“We have 65 trains. We have devised the schedule so as the waiting times between trains do not exceed 2-3 minutes in most cases, up to a maximum of 10-12 minutes,” he said.

The subway trains and their ventilation channels are disinfected daily, using a procedure called 3D nebulization. At the same time, people can pay contactless for their trips in all of the 53 subway stations, the minister said.

The recommendations of the Transport Ministry will be included in the draft law outlining the measures to be taken during the state of alert.

(Photo: Viorelkurnosov | Dreamstime.com)