Año says reducing distance among passenger due to clamor from transport sector

September 14, 2020

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Monday said reducing distance among passengers in public transportation was imposed due to the clamor of the transportation sector.

“There was a clamor from the transportation sector that the transportation requirements are not enough to carry our workers, commuters,” Año said in a TV interview.

“If you listen to the concern of bus operators… they are losing a lot of income… putting only half of the passengers is also a loss,” he said.

To address the issue, Año said the Department of Transportation (DOTr) recommended to IATF to reduce the distance between passengers.

Año said they will continue to monitor the new regulation due to the fears of some sectors that this will result in more COVID-19 infections.

He said with easing physical distance inside public transportation, aside from wearing face shields and masks, passengers should avoid talking, removing their masks inside the vehicles, and answer calls.

"There will be marshals in the public transportation and then we will review and of course monitor. We will check what is really the effect of this deduction of the distance and this sort of you know, is still subject for changes if there are adverse effects," he said.

While it’s a collective decision from the IATF, Año said providing more public transportation should be done instead of reducing the one-meter distance among passengers.

"Personally, I would like to abide by the one-meter standard of physical distancing. If we can actually provide more transport to our people rather than reducing the distance,” he said.

With the ease of distance, Año appealed for the public's cooperation when giving their information for contact tracing.

According to the DOTr, from the usual one-meter distance between passengers, the distance has been cut to 0.75 cm to allow more people to commute to work. After two weeks, the distance will be reduced to 0.50 cm after study by authorities.

DOTr insists that commuters must wear face shields and face masks when using public transport. Ella Dionisio/DMS