National Express has outlined the safety measures that it will put in place when scheduled coach services restart on 1 July.
Drivers and coach station staff will be provided with PPE that includes gloves, masks and visors and a supply of hand sanitiser. Sanitiser will also be placed on vehicles and in coach stations. Screens will be fitted at ticket desks and on coaches between the driver and the passenger cabin.
Notably, customers will be required to provide and wear their own face coverings, which National Express says will preferably be a mask. The covering must be in place when in coach stations and on vehicles. If passengers do not comply, they may be refused travel (subject to exceptions), says the company.
Coach capacities will be limited, although no specific figures have been given. Instead, National Express says that passenger “will be asked to fill vehicles from the back and empty from the front, and sit in window seats with aisle seats blocked off.” The onboard toilet should only be used if unavoidable, it adds.
Each coach will receive a daily ‘fogging’ disinfection and an additional filter to reduce bacteria and improve air quality will be fitted to air-conditioning systems. Touch points will be regularly cleaned throughout the day.
The operator suspended its scheduled coach network at midnight on Sunday 5 April. When National Express services restart, a reduced timetable will be in place.
