‘Guidelines aren’t enough’: Union demands more transport COVID marshalls
Photos show Sydney’s busiest train station is again packed with people, making social distancing near impossible, and sparking calls for mandatory masks and more COVID marshalls across the city’s transport network.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Platforms at Sydney’s busiest train station were packed on Tuesday afternoon, with some commuters visibly uncomfortable as social distancing became impossible.
Photographs taken at Central Station between 3.30pm and 4.30pm show school students and adults standing close to each other, many not wearing masks.
Station staff added to the discomfort, as many milled about on the platform not wearing masks. On-board the train, things were not much better.
Passengers stood in carriage entryways as socially-distanced seats filled up, and one group of schoolchildren took up six seats as their friends spilt into the aisle.
One woman sitting nearby was visibly uncomfortable as she told her friend social distancing had “gone out the window”.
A Transport for NSW spokeswoman told NCA NewsWire the guidelines around social distancing on public transport did not apply to schoolchildren.
She said under current health advice, they were not required to stick to green dots on platforms or trains, though they were advised to group together away from other commuters.
While staff were present on the platforms on Tuesday, none were tasked with enforcing any COVID regulations, leaving them powerless to do anything about it.
“This is exactly why the union has called for more staff across the public transport network to monitor commuters and help enforce COVID regulations,” Alex Claassens, Secretary of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union NSW said.
“Overcrowding, especially without use of masks, puts the health of everyone on the network at risk,” he said. “It is simply not enough for the NSW Government to introduce guidelines for the public to follow and hope for the best.”
The RTBU is urging the NSW Government to “pick up its game” and hire dedicated COVID marshals to enforce physical distancing on trains, buses, and trams, and strengthen its messaging on commuters wearing masks.
“We need COVID marshals across major busways and stations to encourage mask wearing when physical distancing isn’t possible and ask commuters to wait for the next service when transport is at capacity,” Mr Claassens said.
“Extra services should also be added to the most popular school bus routes to prevent overcrowding, just like elsewhere in the network.”
The state government has resisted calls to mandate mask wearing on public transport however strongly encourages commuters to do so.
It has introduced a raft of safety measures including passenger limits, thousands of additional services and extra cleaning.
A spokeswoman for Transport NSW said more than 230 transport officers, security officers and marshalling officers had been on the network since late May assisting with crowd management and helping customers practise physical distancing.
“Transport for NSW has implemented a range of measures to help guide customer’s actions. This includes signs and regular announcements on trains and at stations and green physical distancing dots have been places across the public transport network, to guide customers where to stand sit,” she said.
Over the past few months patronage across the public transport network had remained steady at about 55 per cent on pre-COVID levels, she said.
About 98.8 per cent of services were operating below physical distancing capacity.
But in a Daily Telegraph poll, readers described social distancing on trains and buses as hit and miss.
“There is little to no social distancing on public transport and increasingly fewer people wearing masks. I have to walk to Wynyard Station and the lines for the buses are appalling,” wrote Kathryn Twigg.
“Some guy was on the bus coughing yesterday without a mask on poor form (and not even covering his mouth) no mask no travel I say,” wrote Daniel Jones.
Another commuter said his Bankstown bus was flooded with school students in the afternoons with no social distancing and few masks.
A string of alerts have been issued in recent weeks after COVID-positive cases travelled on public transport, including the CBD and in Sydney’s west.
On August 26 alone, passengers on eight different bus and train routes were identified as close contacts of new cases reported.
In the same month, surveillance footage revealed that mask-wearing levels at Sydney stations were as low as 30 per cent.
The union says tougher messaging on mask use was vital to protect staff and commuters, and an all-of-network approach needed from the Government during the pandemic.
It was a call echoed by NSW Labor’s Shadow Minister for Health Ryan Park, who said the NSW Government must mandate masks on public transport.
“We’ve got situations where we know people cannot social distance, particularly on busy stations and on busy lines in busy carriages,” Mr Park said.
“What we’re saying is in those areas, just like in places of worship and shopping centres, masks should be mandatory,” he said.
“We don’t need it to be a guideline, we need to try and make sure we keep people working and we protect their lives and livelihoods.”
He said while the community “by and large” had done the right thing, people were getting lax about social distancing.
“I don’t think were out of this at any stage yet and we saw very quickly in Victoria how one or two cases could very quickly escalate.
“We don’t want that. We want NSW to keep opening up its economy.”