Passenger Transport: July 23, 2021

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YEARS 2011 | 2021

ISSUE 246 23 JULY 2021

NEWS, VIEWS AND ANALYSIS FOR A SECTOR ON THE MOVE

Public transport sector braced for ‘pingdemic’

Hull-based East Yorkshire was already seeing up to eight bus drivers a day ‘pinged’ by the NHS Test and Trace App ahead of ‘Freedom Day’ on July 19 Bus and train operators across the country are bracing themselves for the impact of the ‘pingdemic’ as coronavirus cases soar and their staff are ‘pinged’ by the NHS contact tracing apps and required to self isolate. Hull-based East Yorkshire was already seeing up to eight bus drivers a day forced to self isolate ahead of the July 19 removal of remaining restrictions in England. The situation reached a head on July 17, with several cancellations for routes in and around Hull. In a statement, East Yorkshire area director Ben Gilligan said: “Similar to other transport and hospitality companies across

the country, we are finding that a number of our colleagues are receiving notifications from track and trace asking them to self isolate. This seems to have increased markedly over the past week, with up to eight drivers a day being ‘pinged’, meaning they must immediately stop driving and return home, and cannot work for up to 10 days. “Our operations staff are

“Unfortunately we are forced to cancel some journeys” Ben Gilligan

working hard to try and cover as many routes as we can, but unfortunately we are forced to cancel some journeys, especially on frequent routes where buses normally run every few minutes.” Health secretary Sajid Javid has said the number of new cases of Covid-19 could rise to 100,000 a day after lockdown lifts, with a much higher number of people being required to self isolate. The pingdemic is also impacting on the public transport sector’s supply chain. Bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis Limited says it has seen a spike in staff at its Scarborough plant isolating as a result of app notifications.

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Findings have not yet been made public

ENVIRONMENT

Go-Ahead ‘carbon neutral by 2045’

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‘Most ambitious’ target in the industry

COMMENT

‘Jam tomorrow - we need a plan for 2021’

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Norman Baker on the decarbonisation plan

Cheeseman is TfL’s new bus chief

Britain’s first batterydiesel train joins the party

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Watchdogs want details of Covid risks

CAREERS

CHILTERN MARKS 25TH BIRTHDAY Chiltern Railways marked 25 years as a train operator with a celebration event at London Marylebone Station and the launch of HybridFLEX Britain’s first battery-diesel train. Chiltern, which is currently an all-diesel operator, is trialling this technology. HybridFLEX is the product of collaboration between rolling stock owner Porterbrook and engineering giant Rolls-Royce.

NEWS

26 Chiltern Railways celebrates its 25th anniversary by launching the greener and quieter HybridFLEX train

Hull Trains MD starts new role in August

SUMMER BREAK Passenger Transport is taking its annual summer break. There will be no edition on August 6. The next edition of the magazine will come out on August 20.

21/07/2021 16:51


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