It’s been almost two week since the recommendation to wear masks when you couldn’t stay 1.5 metres away from others. This includes public transport. With COVID-19 case numbers rising, on Sunday they upped the ante: masks (or other face coverings) will be mandatory outside your home (with a few exceptions) from Thursday. Interestingly this is ... [More]
Some things worth noting in PT this week. Masks now recommended On Friday, the Chief Health Officer recommended that Melburnians now wear masks outside home when it is not possible to stay physically distant from others – including when using public transport. Obviously this has been prompted by the current rates of COVID-19 community transmission ... [More]
Comparing different city public transport networks and their COVID-19 responses
How’s everybody going? Managing okay I hope? How’s the working week going? Well I’m spending it at home.How was your weekend? Mostly at home.What did you get up to last night? … I was at home. It’s been an adjustment, but we’re managing in my family. Working from home (now in the fourth week) is ... [More]
With all the talk of falling public transport patronage (some estimates have suggested it’s down 90%) and persistent (but unconfirmed) rumours of reduction of services to weekend levels, it’s worth remembering that capacity is only one aspect of service levels. Normally, trains trams and buses are often packed, but with patronage currently so low, passengers ... [More]
One of the effects of the COVID-19 crisis (which I wrote about in general terms yesterday) is a steep fall in public transport usage. This is partially people avoiding the network and switching to other modes such as cycling and driving, but mostly it’s people avoiding travelling in the first place. (City Mapper data suggests ... [More]
I said it last week, but this whole situation is surreal. At this point, there are 3,048 confirmed cases of COVID-19 around Australia. In the past week or two, the number has roughly doubled every 3-4 days. There’s a slight bit of relief for those of us in Victoria – the growth here is a ... [More]
COVID-19 is developing very fast, and really is quite unlike anything in living memory. I feel like Australia is still at the early stages, and already the impacts are huge. The ban on events of more than 500 people from Monday is unprecedented, and shopping for scarce supermarket items is a little bit surreal. I’m ... [More]
Everybody gets floaters to some extent, apparently. Little artefacts, interference in your eyesight. Floating blobs. In the last couple of months I’ve been getting more of them than before, particularly in bright light. Official advice says this is common in people as they get older, and is likely to be either the vitreous humour slightly ... [More]
A short break from posting my holiday blogs… From today, smoking bans have been extended to include the entrances to most government buildings, as well as outdoor dining areas. This is all good. We’re way behind the other states on this. It’s about time non-smokers, who make up the vast majority of the population, had ... [More]