What will happen from May 11?
Keolis – a SNCF subsidiary – operates metros, trams and buses in many cities in France (Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux, Rennes …) and around the world.
Keolis in particular operates the buses and trams of Divia networks for Dijon mainland and Ginko in Besançon. In addition, the group is in charge of numerous regular bus lines in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region.
Since March 17, 2020, that is to say the start of confinement to fight the Covid-19 epidemic, Keolis has maintained service at around 30%.
It will take a long time to return to normal
We must now prepare deconfinement which will involve spreading passenger traffic. It’s not going to start all at once. The return to normal will be slow.
“We are inspired by what has been done in other countries, particularly in Shanghai where they resumed their economic and social activity about six weeks ago. A month and a half later, we are about 55% of transport use and schools are only reopening, “said Patrick Jeantet, president of Keolis, at Radio Classique on Thursday April 23, 2020.
How to give confidence to passengers?
The number one goal is “to give confidence to passengers who are afraid of being crowded on a tram or bus.” For that, we must impose the wearing of a mask, says the boss of Keolis.
“We consider that this will allow not to have this distance of one meter which is impractical in public transport. This is impractical for an extremely simple reason: if you want to fill your buses or tram lines correctly, you cannot respect the distance of one meter. So, wearing a mask allows us to put a stop to this need for social distancing which must apply everywhere else. “
To note that the Elysee Palace announced Thursday April 23 that “it will probably be necessary to impose the wearing of a mask” in public transport. It is a recommendation of the Academy of Medicine which wishes that the anti-projection masks are from now on “compulsory in the public space”.
Really obliged to travel?
A little reminder of the security measures implemented by DiviaMobilités. Please note that they do not exempt you from applying barrier gestures:Take care of yourself, you will take care of others! pic.twitter.com/cyOj0GUHdb
– DiviaMobilités Dijon (@DiviaMobilites) April 14, 2020
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If public transport does not leave, watch out for traffic jams!
To ensure passenger safety, Keolis plans to step up disinfection operations, especially of everything touched by the hand. “Because there are two ways to be contaminated: either by saliva splashes which can be avoided by wearing a mask, or by touching.
We are studying the possibility, in any case in metros and trams, to have flying teams that continuously disinfect the trains, all day long, with virucidal products. Essentially the parts that are touched, that is to say the grab bars, the handles, the buttons, etc. ”.
Of course, there will be an additional cost, but it is necessary to restart public transport, adds the president of Keolis.
“If you don’t, you get to what’s going on in Shanghai today where traffic jams have become extremely important, because people take the car when they can. “
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