Hull-based East Yorkshire was already seeing up to eight bus drivers a day ‘pinged’ by the NHS Test and Trace App ahead of ‘Freedom Day’ on July 19

 

 

Bus and train operators across the country are bracing themselves for the impact of the ‘pingdemic’ as coronavirus cases soar and their staff are ‘pinged’ by the NHS contact tracing apps and required to self isolate.

Hull-based East Yorkshire was already seeing up to eight bus drivers a day forced to self isolate ahead of the July 19 removal of remaining restrictions in England. The situation reached a head on July 17, with several cancellations for routes in and around Hull.

In a statement, East Yorkshire area director Ben Gilligan said: “Similar to other transport and hospitality companies across the country, we are finding that a number of our colleagues are receiving notifications from track and trace asking them to self isolate. This seems to have increased markedly over the past week, with up to eight drivers a day being ‘pinged’, meaning they must immediately stop driving and return home, and cannot work for up to 10 days.

Our operations staff are working hard to try and cover as many routes as we can, but unfortunately we are forced to cancel some journeys, especially on frequent routes where buses normally run every few minutes

“Our operations staff are working hard to try and cover as many routes as we can, but unfortunately we are forced to cancel some journeys, especially on frequent routes where buses normally run every few minutes.”

Health secretary Sajid Javid has said the number of new cases of Covid-19 could rise to 100,000 a day after lockdown lifts, with a much higher number of people being required to self isolate.

The pingdemic is also impacting on the public transport sector’s supply chain. Bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis Limited says it has seen a spike in staff at its Scarborough plant isolating as a result of app notifications.

 
This article appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.

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