In a bid to help people adhere to social distancing measures and protect themselves, a new digital service is set to be rolled out that will alert people to busy trains and stations before they leave home so they can decide if they want to travel or not.
Downloading the app will allow passengers to plan their journeys more effectively, with alternative departures and routes suggested, the Guardian reports. Data on journey trends will be combined with live updates from staff members at stations to help make travel easier over the coming months.
The hope is that if enough people sign up to the service, passengers will be able to stagger their journeys – important given the fact that maintaining a 2m distance onboard services has reduced average train capacity to around ten per cent of normal levels.
More passengers are likely to be seen after June 15th, when some flights resume and more businesses start to reopen.
Grant Shapps, transport secretary, was quoted by the news source as saying: “With capacity reduced to about a fifth of that previously seen on our railways, it is important that people work from home if they can, stagger their travel times to avoid crowds, and use other forms of transport wherever possible.”
Peak travel times have been varying around the country, with both London St Pancras and Birmingham New Street busiest between 6:00 and 6:30am. In contrast, Manchester Piccadilly’s peak time seems to be between 07:00 and 07:30, while London’s Stratford station is busiest between 05:00 and 07:00.
Other steps that rail operators are now taking to keep people safe at the moment include reservation-only travel, a strategy adopted by LNER. Transport for Wales is also thinking about implementing a system of this kind, as well.
There are still concerns from some quarters, however, with ScotRail warning it cannot guarantee that passengers will be able to follow social distancing guidelines at all stages of their journey, as the number of people using services increases.
As such, customers are being urged to follow five rules for safe travel – don’t go anywhere if you feel unwell or have a temperature, travel outside main commuting times where possible, don’t board a train unless you feel it is safe to do so, wear a face mask or covering and maintain social distancing wherever possible, and be patient as you may not be able to board your first choice of train.
ScotRail operations director David Simpson observed that hand sanitiser will also be available in stations to help keep passengers safe, but the message is still that people should only travel if it is essential to do so.
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