Interstates Travel: Ministry of Transportation rolls out guidelines for road workers
Ministry of Transportation after so many observations, has released some guidelines for the safe reopening of the road transport sector in the country.
Details below:
TRANSPORT SECTOR WORKERS
In the next phase of lockdown easing (i.e. phase 3), the Government seeks to loosen restrictions on interstate travel, especially for non-essential transport. Through this easing, the health, and safety of the Nigerian citizenry, including transport workers and passengers, remains a key priority. It is noted that transportation can facilitate the spread of COVID-19 as vehicles and terminals provide circumscribed environments within which people from different geographical areas assemble and intermix. Hence, guidelines to address the reopening of mass transit for interstate transportation, have been carefully designed to achieve the following objectives:
o Protect – to ensure the safety of operators, workers and passengers
o Prevent – to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus
o Provide – to provide support for all stakeholders interacting with the mass-transit systems.
· The Ministry of Transportation is committed to ensuring the sustainability of the sector, while guaranteeing a suitable level of service and safety for all stakeholders.
· Transport sector workers are essential to establish and maintain the necessary protocols to keep our road public transport safe by ensuring compliance with guidelines.
· To mitigate transmission of COVID-19 through public transport once the ban on interstate travel is lifted, transport workers must adhere to the following guidelines:
Parks and Terminals
o All interstate and intercity travels must be initiated from motor parks (organized operating terminals) to enable effective passenger screening, sanitizing, and ensure compliance with COVID-19 protocols e.g. temperature checks and facemask wearing.
o Each park/terminal is required to have COVID-19 stewards and supervisors that will be responsible for compliance with the safety protocol guidelines:
o Relevant information on recommended behavior (e.g. posters advising frequent hand washing or sanitizing, specific measures in place for interstate travel vehicles etc.) shall be clearly displayed around the terminal.
o Control access into the park/terminal and ensure that all passengers and workers go through the Smart Sanitiser Booth at the park/terminal. Ensure that temperature is screened, and all persons comply with the hand sanitization requirement.
o All staff must undergo temperature check with contactless thermometers as well as breath test upon arrival at parks and terminals
o Personal Protective Equipment (facemask) must be used throughout the day’s operations and disposed of in line with NCDC approved guidelines at the end of each day.
o Operating Terminals will be disinfected bi-weekly and surfaces wiped at frequent intervals.
o Operating Terminals must be aerated, and all doors and windows opened.
o All passenger vehicles must be disinfected at the operating terminals before loading.
o Hawking and begging inside terminals at operating terminals are banned.
o Regular public announcements, clear signage and floor markings to guide passenger movement and social distancing.
o All passengers’ luggage must be disinfected before entry into the vehicles
o Establish protective barriers in designated areas around operating terminals (e.g. ticket stands or controls)
o Establish clean-up areas with hand wash and sanitizers made available to transport and bus terminal workers
o Waste bins in terminals and vehicles should be emptied frequently in line with NCDC guideline
o Precaution shall be maintained at Food stalls including:
§ Social distancing markers, frequent cleaning and disinfection procedures,
§ Mandatory designated hand-sanitizer stations
§ Proper training to handle food items in line with guidance from health authorities
Crowd Control Guidelines in and around transport facilities:
o Buses should be parked at least 5 meters from each other.
o Dedicated queues and signage (by ticket stations and buses) to distinguish passenger flows with 2-meter social distance markers installed to ensure adherence to COVID-19 guidelines.
o Post and panel barriers/ retractable belts to maintain queues and manage passenger flow.
o Clear signage for easy navigation e.g. for customer service personnel, bus routes/ destinations, queue barriers, etc
o Removal/rearrangement of items that cause crowding (e.g. benches, tables).
o Electronic sales of tickets, dedicated sales points and advanced seat reservations at operating terminals to reduce the likelihood of crowding and to ensure ticket accessibility for all passengers.
o Establish check-in, loading, and unloading processes, with clear signage to guide passengers
o Deploy personnel with crowd management training – to prevent over-boarding and enforce social distancing measures
o Institute staggered entry – permitting only passengers within the bus terminal
o Trip Data and Electronic passenger manifest of all interstate public transport trips shall be provided to the Road Transport Data Capture (RTDC) platform.
o Each passenger shall be required to present a (govt-issued) photo-id and provide contact details before boarding.
In the event, a passenger exhibits symptom of COVID-19 while exiting or entering the operating terminal; the COVID-19 supervisor shall be responsible for the following actions:
· Move the symptomatic passengers to clearly demarcated safe areas and initiate recommended NCDC process for moving the symptomatic passenger to medical facilities
§ Minimise the individual’s exposure to other passengers and terminal staff
§ Collection of relevant information on contacts with other passengers and terminal staff etc. who might have come in contact with the symptomatic passenger
· For advance bookings, defined procedures will include the identification and contact of passengers they came in contact with.
Buses
(All interstate commuting vehicles e.g. luxury buses, coaster buses, mini-buses, Hiace Buses, Sienna and other saloon vehicles)
Buses will be sanitized before and after each trip.
o Touch-free hand sanitizer dispensers, as well as mobile hand wash units, must be made available for all passengers upon entry
o Bus stewards on every trip that will be responsible for full wipe down of the bus seats and all surfaces at each stopover before trip continuation.
o Seats should be clearly marked to facilitate social distancing
o For short-distance trips (less than 2 hours) air conditioners must be disabled and windows must remain open for the duration of all trips
o For all long-distance trips, at least for 10 minutes every hour, air-conditioning must be switched off and windows opened
o Buses should be parked at least 5 meters from each other.
o Buses must have signage indicating when a bus is filled to capacity
o Buses will stop at major stops only to improve operating times and ensure queuing can be effectively managed at each stopover point
o All buses must prominently display relevant information material for passengers on safe, recommended behavior (e.g. social distancing, hand sanitization procedures, etc.)
o Protective barriers in vehicles (e.g. around drivers)
o Boarding protocols shall be established to protect the driver and passengers (e.g. where possible, utilizing rear-door boarding, opening of doors by default or by the conductor)
o Purchase of goods from hawkers’/ food stalls from within the vehicle must be prohibited
o Prohibit passengers from sitting next to the driver unless physical separation is possible
o Where possible, staff should limit contact with passengers’ luggage; passengers should take charge of the loading and unloading of their luggage
o To minimize instances in which passengers touch handrails or other surfaces, buses should not move until passengers are properly seated. Passengers should also wait for the bus to come to a complete stop before standing up.
o All buses/vehicles shall comply with the 50% passenger capacity guideline and maximum seating of 2 passengers per row for example:
| Vehicle Type | Pre-COVID-19 Seating Arrangement | New Seating Arrangement |
| 13-seater Hiace Bus | 13 Persons: (3-3-3-3-1) | 9 Persons: (2-2-2-1-1) |
| 10-seater Hiace Short Bus | 10 Persons: (3-3-3-1) | 7 Persons: (2-2-2-1) |
| 7-Seater Bus/ Vehicles | 7 Persons: (3-3-1) | 5 Persons: (2-2-1) |
| 4-Seater Salon Vehicles | 4 persons: (3-1) | 3 Persons: (2-1) |
| Luxury Buses | 4 persons per row | 2 persons per row |
· In-transit activities with vehicles in motion or in stationary mode, the guidelines include:
o Enforcement of restrictions on the number of passengers per row to ensure 50% capacity utilization.
o Air conditioners should not be used, and windows must remain open throughout trips that are less than 2 hours.
o Where a trip duration is more than 2 hours, air-conditioning shall be turned off and windows open for a minimum of 10 minutes every hour for the duration of the trip (except in situations where the windows are not adjustable; in which case, all passengers and driver must remain masked throughout the trip)
o There shall be Bus Stewards on each bus who shall be responsible to wipe down and sanitize the bus surfaces at each stop-over before trip continuation.
o The Bus Stewards shall also ensure that each passenger completes the hand sanitization process before re-embarkment
o Bus drivers must wear a facemask when driving as well as ensure buses have sanitizers for passenger use.
o All In-transit sales must be prohibited.
o The transport of persons with disabilities and vulnerable groups such as the elderly should be given priority and these groups should be provided with the necessary personal protective equipment if unavailable.
· Disembarkment/ post-trip guidelines:
o Organize Passengers disembarking from vehicles in an orderly manner that adheres to social distancing measures.
o All waste materials are to be emptied after each trip.
Ayooluwa Joshua