Coronavirus Implications For London's Transport

I've not seen or heard anyone say it will be managed by anyone.

All I've seen & heard is them say that public transport can only offer social distancing at 10% of its capacity.

It's up to the public to act upon this advice but given that East London has pretty much failed to maintain any sort of social distancing on trains since this all started, its advice that is already well out of date.


And just like with the mainstream media, Boris didn't say anything that he was rumoured to be saying.

I am a union member and obviously support them, but like a lot of things that come from ASLEF lately, I won't be holding my breath on the expectation of being issued with a mask when I book on tomorrow morning ('scuse the pun there).

Face masks issued to T/Ops from this morning

Apparently, the Jubilee Line platforms at Green Pk this AM were almost like a return to normal.

its changed all t4 are now going to t5 with the exception of the first one which will detrain at hatton cross and go via t4 if t5 gets too congested some might be diverted down rayners branch 

Was the peak of a shorter duration this morning? I can see it was crowded at all the usual hotspots (Canning Town for example) but was it the full 0600-0945 affair or was it all over by, say 0800?

As for the requirements, taking into account the latest statement from Government, the advice appears to be "Don't go to work unless you have to go to work, in which case don't use public transport, but if you have to, observe social distancing. Unless you can't, in which case wear a mask." Is that about right?

Personally the only trains I've seen since March 17th have been the Windsor branch shuttles at the bottom of my garden, and I don't expect this to change for the foreseeable future.

(Fellow mods - please feel free to smack me down if I've strayed over the boundaries into politics!)

I wouldn't hold your breath.  Despite management telling ASLEF on Thursday that the masks would be "FFP2 grade" what turned up were disposable single-use masks with instructions on how to put them on, take them off and dispose of them afterwards.  They weren't issued, rather I was told I could have some if I wanted.

We'd need two per duty - unless you can eat and drink through a mask during meal relief without touching it.  Once again LUL management never fail to disappoint.

RMT and every other union's priority is to safeguard its members' health, welfare and safety.  It is not their job to deliver a service, that's TfL's responsibility.

Mod note: Post edited to amend quotation and remove political statements

And of course, the wearing of masks on public transport is only advisory. It would only be totally effective if everybody wore one.

It would only be totally effective if everyone wore the correct mask correctly. Most of the masks, even if worn correctly only reduce the risk, not eliminate it.

Wonder how this will work?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52630367

Single use masks can be FFP1, FFP2 or FFP3. Full or half mask reusable respirators come with cartridges that are are effectively FFP1, FFP2, FFP3 etc and need to be replaced regularly. With the one I used in the past, the cartridge needed to be replaced about once every three months or so if I remember correctly. Single use masks can be expensive, with the highest grade (FFP3) the most expensive. Reusable respirators are also expensive, both in terms of the base cost but also buying the cartridges. 



There are two types of masks. Surgical masks collect droplets you exhale but they don't provide a tight seal between the mask and your face and therefore you can still breathe in droplets. Respirators or FFP masks if you like, have a tight seal between your face and the mask - they prevent both droplets being exhaled and droplets being inhaled. 

So depending on the type of mask the individual wears, provided they wear it correctly, it can prevent you from breathing in the droplets, at least a percentage of them (nothing is 100% effective). 


Correct. 

There are a number of issues wearing single use masks:
- Ensuring a tight seal.
- Handling the mask when putting it on, when the mask is in use and when disposing of it.
- They don't cover your eyes and at least initially, the advice was that you shouldn't touch your face/eyes, so droplets could potentially impinge on the surfaces of your eyes.
- Claims that they make you less likely to touch your face don't match reality. They can become uncomfortable and it is easy to just forget and scratch your face, adjust the mask (using contaminated fingers) etc.

It would probably be helpful if drivers drove the trains with the doors open - this would provide ventilation for the droplets to disperse or evaporate. Droplets remaining on any surfaces would also evaporate much more quickly. 

You also have to remember as well, droplets can evaporate very quickly under some circumstances. So the thought process shouldn't just be "where do the droplets go" but also "how quickly can they evaporate" as well as what is the volume of droplets that needs to be exhaled to be problematic - e.g. is inhaling one droplet going to be problematic or does an individual need to exhale a large quantity of droplets containing the virus to become infected. 

As far as I am aware, the answer to this is not known. The most recent science on this that I'm aware of is that the leading theories regarding asymptomatic transmission are that there is a very high viral load in exhaled air (relative to SARS), i.e. a very large number of droplets contain virus particles, and/or that the virus can be transmitted by significantly smaller droplets than SARS can.

This is also rather off-topic though.

This is a serious problem, and something to bear in mind when bashing the unions when they focus on staff safety. I believe a Northern Line driver was spat at a while ago too.

Much more of it and it would be a guaranteed mass walk-out from staff, and one which I would support fully.

It can be done if the train is being driven in manual mode.

I suppose that station staff on the underground, where possible, are staying within the former ticket offices behind the glass shield to limit close contact with the public? Is it possible to build more of those "temporary shelters" (the ones which allow staff to sit next to the gates but inside some shelter). Sorry I do not know what they are called.