The coronavirus pandemic is spreading rapidly across continents inflicting death, destroying livelihoods and bankrupting economics.
As governments big and small push ahead with reopening plans, one of their main concerns is the resurgence of the deadly virus as public transportation services resume shuttling hundreds of millions of people every day to and from work.
In Tehran, urban planners have raised the alarm that maintaining social distancing in usually overcrowded subways and buses is almost impossible.
After a partial shutdown in March, social and business activities have resumed and things are getting ‘back to normal’. However, this normalcy is a new norm understandably creating fear and anxiety among the commuters and those in charge.
In a desperate search to lessen the impact of the disease, urban managers have introduced a few measures. Head of Iran's Municipalities and Village Administrators, Mehdi Jamalinejad told the state-run broadcaster IRIB, “Subways, train cars, urban buses and taxis in Tehran are being sanitized several times a day.”
Referring to the government’s latest order on the mandatory ry use of masks in roofed public spaces from July 5, Jamalinejad called the general public to comply with the ‘rule of mask’ when coming out and using public transport.
He encouraged the public to use handmade facemasks and said, “There is no need to use filtered respiratory masks or expensive products. Home-made layered masks with simple fabrics are good enough.”
As Covid-19 showed its destructive power everywhere, shortages of face masks were reported from Afghanistan to America. Iran too was not spared.
Thanks to avaricious merchants and middlemen, many Iranians cannot afford quality masks and homemade masks are seemingly not as effective as those made in factories. But as the saying goes: in testing times something is better than nothing.”
Tehran Police Chief Hossein Rahimi says the police is planning to collaborate with Tehran Metro Company to help passengers and metro staff adhere to safety and hygiene guidelines.
Rahimi said officers will try and do all that is possible when checking passengers to assure that everyone has facemask.
He emphasized the strict measures are for the public good and for their own safety.” Maximum care should be taken because the virus is still spreading” and things could get worse before they get better.
With the large numbers using public transport, getting to know how many get infected in trains and buses is an impossible enterprise.
According to official reports, over 600 taxi and bus drivers have so far tested positive for Covid-19. Fifty have died due to the disease.
Health Hazard
Health experts have repeatedly warned that the use of public transport can increase the risk of infection. On a daily basis senior officials warn that the virus is spreading and infecting people and the situation has worsened. The resumption of social activities is making it very difficult to reduce mortalities as the numbers visiting hospitals has been rising rapidly.
According to the Health Ministry, public vehicles are more polluted compared to universities and schools, so extra care should be taken by commuters
Urban managers say the ventilation system in subway trains is concentrated, meaning that the air inside cars is constantly circulating and combining with the outside air.
This means one sick person in a train car can possibly pollute the air in all cars. The same is true in public buses.
By Tuesday, Covid-19 had infected 11,772,300 people in the world, claiming 541,520 lives. According to official reports, 6,767,333 have so far recovered.
In Iran, 245,688 people have been diagnosed with the acute respiratory disease and 11,931 have been lost to the virus.
Possible Solutions
In offering a solution for shortcomings, Mohsen Hashemi, chairman of Tehran City Council, had said earlier that more vehicles should be added to the public transportation fleet. That said, social distancing is impossible in a crowded city like Tehran that has spread in all four directions in the past half century and is home to ten million people.
Hashemi suggested that boosting production of vehicles will increase the number of buses and taxis in the transportation system.
Noting that funds for buying buses and taxis has never been adequate in the past several years, Hashemi said the annoying shortage of vehicles is visible and called on the government and banks to help.
In late February, the government intended to use the National Development Fund of Iran to help Tehran Municipality buy 630 subway cars and 3,000 new buses.
The announcement was made in a meeting between Es’haq Jahangiri, first vice president, and Hashemi, where they discussed ways of expanding and improving public transport.
Mohammad Alikhani, the head of Tehran’s Transportation Commission, later told reporters that the government will allocate funds as soon as experts complete their estimation and select the companies.
Tehran’s Public Transportation Status
According to Tehran Municipality, the number of buses operating in Tehran is hardly 6,000 which, according to experts, is half the number necessary for decent transport.
Reports say the average age of the fleet is over 11 years and 50% of the gas-guzzlers plying the polluted capital should have long been consigned to the scrapyard.
One thousand subway cars are in use in the capital's urban subway system, 30% of which need to be renovated.
The subway stretches over 220 kilometers and comprises seven lines (1 to 7) with 120 stations. Lines 6 and 7 are yet not fully operational.
On a normal day, over four million people use the subway. The municipality expects the number to surge by 25% after the two remaining lines are completed.
