Coronavirus Australia: ‘Too hard, too dangerous’ to enforce distancing on public transport

Drivers won’t enforce social distancing, preferring to ‘adopt the path of least resistance’ amid constant fear of violence.

Queues at Wynyard Bus station during the morning peak hour rush in Sydney.

Bus drivers in Sydney have been advised not to enforce new passenger limits or social distancing requirements being implemented by the state government, with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Transport Minister Andrew Constance saying passengers would have to use their “common sense.”

On Monday the NSW State Government announced that a standard Sydney bus would only be allowed to carry 12 passengers, a train carriage 32, and a Freshwater Ferry, 245.

Passengers are to be kept 1.5m apart and green dots have been placed throughout buses and carriages to alert individuals to where they can safely sit or stand.

But a Sydney bus driver has told The Australian drivers have been told not to enforce social distancing, not to deny service to passengers when a bus is full, and to never leave a school student at a bus stop.

Asked about reports in Nine newspapers of such a directive from NSW State transport, the driver said: “All the info regarding social distancing is correct.”

“I’m glad I’m not on mornings anymore because some runs, it would be very difficult (to enforce social distancing),” the driver said.

“In morning peak they were packing themselves in like sardines until the lockdown. Even if you tried to keep the numbers down, as soon as you stopped to let some off more would squeeze in.”

The driver stressed: “It’s not our role to police anything,” adding that bus drivers were still shaken by a 2016 incident in which Brisbane bus driver Manmeet Alisher was burnt to death. “It’s hard to shake off the horror” of the fatal assault, the driver said.

Murdered bus driver Manmeet Alisher.

The driver said most bus drivers “just turn the volume up on their radio if the punters start fighting,” adopting a “path of least resistance” until police can attend the scene.

“It might be different now people are more informed and employers are probably more lenient about staggered start times, but there’s still other pressures like school and daycare hours,” the driver added.

NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance on Tuesday morning said the new rules were more of a guideline than a hard and fast law, and there was no public health order that could be used to enforce limits.

"Well, I mean there isn't a public health order that exists, you know, in relation to this, this is very much trying to ensure we have guidance," Mr Constance told Today.

“There has to be a degree of self-responsibility. If people see packed transport, don’t do it.

“It is not perfect, it can’t be when you need to commute with tens of thousands of people around you every day.

“There’s restrictions and limitations everywhere with this. We’ve got to try and work with it and make it as plausible as possible.”

At a press conference on Tuesday morning NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian reiterated her transport minister’s advice, saying people need to “apply a bit of common sense.”

"We don't expect people to have to be monitored 24/7; we do expect people to take on a bit of personal responsibility as well … when you put restrictions in place you ask everybody to respect them," she said.

“I am very confident that the transport plan we announced yesterday sets good guidelines.”

Despite the concerns of bus drivers, Ms Berejiklian said that “bus drivers have every opportunity to enforce safety and have access to anything which makes them be safer and feel safer in the workplace.”

On Monday, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys said there would be no fines for violating distance limits on public transport.

“No, there’s no fine for social distancing. That is an obligation that right throughout this pandemictpeople have exercised strongly right in terms of their commitment to the virus,” he told reporters.

NSW Transport has been contacted for comment.