MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/. Transportation experts see no point in closure of Moscow Metro as a coronavirus spread prevention measure, like other world’s major cities have done already. According to the experts Moscow has already implemented a set of measures for protection of the people, and closure of the metro would only sow panic among the population.
Ineffective measure
According to Deputy Director of Russian Transport University’s Rapid Transit Systems Center Alexander Chekmarev, coronavirus spread in Moscow cannot be called critical, compared to other countries, and there is no reason to close the capital’s subway.
"In Moscow, the main source of infection is people who came from countries with bad epidemiologic situation and people who contacted them. Thankfully, no virus spread among common people has been registered so far - or we are talking about single cases. Therefore, it is inappropriate to shut down the entire metro, which would largely paralyze but city life and business activity," Chekmarev told TASS.
Norayr Bludyan, Chair of Moscow Agglomeration Transportation Association noted that the subway is a part of a huge developed city transport structure, and, in a bid to stop coronavirus spread, city authorities would also have to shut down ground and railroad transport, including the nascent Central Diameters and the Aeroexpress trains.
"Shutting down subway is justified only in cities where it performs 80-90% of all transportation, i.e. cities with underdeveloped ground transport. Otherwise, shutdown of subway alone will not solve the problem and will have no effect," he explained.
Subway shutdown must coincide with other no less strict restrictive measures, because subway is not the only place where residents of Moscow spend a lot of time during the day, Chekmarev said.
"[The measures must include] state of emergency, general restriction of movement, shutdown of companies. We are talking about change of traditional way of life of city residents. So far, there is no need for that," the expert said.
Russian Passenger Association also sees no need to shut down the Metro, arguing that such move would create more cons than pros, would provoke ungrounded chaos and panic, says Ilya Zotov, the Association head.
"There is a complex of protective measures implemented in the subway: employees have their temperature checked before work, cashiers are issued antiseptics, the train cars are disinfected with ultraviolet lamps, passenger infrastructure is being disinfected, trains and stations are wiped. This is why we consider stopping trains an inappropriate measure," he explained.
Self-isolation in personal transport
The expert agree that there have been less passengers in public transport recently: this way, people seek to isolate themselves from potential carriers of the infection.
"Public transport load is indeed lower, it’s clearly visible. Even during rush hours, the trains have more space. A significant number of employees have switched to remote work or only come to office for separate events. On the other hand, the situation with the road network has deteriorated: many people seek to isolate and switched to their personal transport," Chekmarev added.
According to the expert, recently, traffic began to jam at points where it has not before. Besides, "taxi load has increase, taxi prices grew," he noted.
Bludyan, however, does not expect road collapse, but nevertheless called on the employers to switch as many employees to remote work as possible.
"This might become the only method to reduce transport and road network load, and would somewhat slow infection spread. We are not talking heavy production, but business structure that actually can set up remote work for their employees," he said.
About the coronavirus
The coronavirus outbreak, which began in late 2019 in China, has spread to over 130 countries and the WHO recognized it as a global pandemic. Russia has registered 147 infection cases so far.