City councils must ensure epidemiologically-safe public transport - Linkaits

RIGA - City councils must not hesitate to decide on reorganization of public transport during the state of emergency, they must use their right to introduce various restrictions on public transport to help limit the spread of Covid-19, and these measures may include complete cancellation of public transport discounts and introducing maximum number of passengers permitted in a vehicle during the peak hours, Transport Minister Talis Linkaits (New Conservative Party) said during a meeting with the Latvian Cities' Association on Tuesday, as the minister's advisor Maija Rena told LETA.

The epidemiological situation in Latvia is deteriorating rapidly, so as many ways as possible need to be found to reduce people-to-people contacts, and one of them is safer public transport, said Linkaits.

Representatives of local governments agreed that one way to achieve this could be to differentiate passenger flows by cancelling public transport discounts at certain times of the day - in the mornings when it is necessary to ensure that students get to school and employees to work, and in the evenings.

Representatives of local governments also said that the situation in different cities was different, which is why city councils should individually decide on the most appropriate solutions.