Stricter rules for staff dining, resting areas at interchanges
Bus drivers, interchange staff to eat alone in canteens, routine testing to start in bid to stem Covid clusters
Bus drivers and interchange staff will eat alone in canteens and be segregated from other staff who are resting, as part of a slew of measures to stem the Covid-19 clusters at these public transport nodes.
The stricter measures, which were announced yesterday, will also include routine testing at least once a week for the more than 11,000 bus drivers and staff at all interchanges across the island.
As at yesterday, eight public bus interchanges - Toa Payoh, Boon Lay, Punggol, Jurong East, Bishan, Sengkang, Tampines and Clementi - have reported 341 Covid-19 cases, at least 284 of whom are bus drivers and service staff. The rest are their household contacts and other members of the public.
The segregation of dining and resting areas at interchanges separates those who want to rest with their masks on from those who are eating, while also limiting the number without masks on at any one time.
By next week, all enclosed spaces at interchanges will have air purifiers installed. Dividers will be set up at smoking areas to minimise interaction. Cleaning frequency of high-touch points at staff areas will also be doubled to every hour.
Before the new weekly Covid-19 tests, it was up to transport operators, at their own expense, to conduct antigen rapid tests (ART). This was done mostly on an ad hoc basis on a portion of staff. All staff at a particular interchange are then required to take ARTs when a positive case surfaces. Those who subsequently test positive or whose results are inconclusive are sent for further testing.
If more bus drivers are affected by Covid-19, commuters might have to wait longer for buses. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said contingency plans are in place to lengthen the intervals between bus services - starting with routes with the lowest demand.
These plans were hammered out even before Covid-19 in case of severe manpower disruption.
"Any lengthening of bus service headways required will be progressive, starting with low-demand bus services to minimise the impact on commuters," LTA said.
The Straits Times understands that the authorities have not definitively established links between the bus interchange clusters, mostly from the similarity of virus profiles between bus drivers and the public. It is unclear how the first bus staff member got the virus, but there are links between bus staff at shared areas.
The LTA said about half of the bus service staff who have tested positive were found through proactive testing.
"The infected workers are mostly asymptomatic or show only mild symptoms.
"No one has fallen seriously ill," the LTA said, attributing this to vaccination.
Bus driver Goh Pek Hong, 65, is worried that the dining areas could be insufficient for the 90 workers at Tampines Concourse Bus Interchange. However, she understood that the measures were necessary.
"SBS Transit gives us face masks and lotion that we can use to wipe down the buses regularly. I also try not to talk and maintain a safe distance from others," she said.
Mr Ng Lang, LTA's chief executive, said: "We have to strike a balance between welfare of workers and stepping up of measures. For instance, the rule on vaccinated drivers eating alone is more stringent than on the public. It is not an easy decision, but it is necessary."
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