Bus passengers ‘not satisfied’ with people’s social distancing
More than half of bus users in the region are ‘not satisfied’ with the behaviour of their fellow travellers when it comes to social distancing, it has been revealed.
And this may be having an impact on passenger numbers – with just over half the number of passengers travelling on the bus network, prior to the most recent lockdown, as before the pandemic.
However the number of car journeys undertaken has now nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels, prompting fears that the region’s economic recovery could damage the environment and set back the fight against climate change.
The figures have been published ahead of a meeting of the West Midlands Combined Authority’s (WMCA) transport delivery committee on January 11, with a series of surveys carried out to find out about people’s changing travel habits during the pandemic.
Patronage on both the bus and rail network dropped off dramatically back at the start of the pandemic, with one in five respondents to the survey saying that they had not travelled on public transport at all between March and May.
And, while the report does note that levels have now begun to increase again since the end of the first lockdown, it also states: “Despite this upturn in travel witnessed during Period 3, all evidence suggests that suppressed travel demand will be sustained – when comparing public transport use in the coming weeks to current travel and travel pre pandemic, it would seem that the use of public transport will not return to pre pandemic levels.”
At its lowest, the report notes, rail travel dropped to just four per cent of pre-pandemic levels, with travel by bus at 10 per cent.
And this could be due to levels of trust on the networks, with 53 per cent of rail passengers stating that they are either unhappy or extremely unhappy with ‘the behaviour/attitudes of other passengers to social distancing.’
Travel by car has now nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels, however, with 90 per cent of pre-pandemic journeys now taking place.
And this has prompted fears that a shift back to car travel could damage attempts to reduce the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
“As car use has almost recovered to pre-Covid 19 levels, there is a risk of a high carbon recovery as people retreat into their cars,” the papers state.
“This will not only risk achieving environmental goals, but will restrain economic recovery from the pandemic.
“If unchecked this trend could undermine the long term commercial viability of the public transport industry.”
