Mo Chit and bus services responding to COVID-19 fears

[Jonathan Fairfield]

 

BANGKOK (NNT) - Many people were seen a day before the start of the Songkran holiday picking up bus tickets or departing from Mo Chit Bus Terminal, in an effort to avoid COVID-19.

 

Mo Chit Bus Terminal has stepped up measures to stem the spread of COVID-19 by stringently screening travelers and maintaining social distancing as well as ensuring mask wearing. Disinfection of contact surfaces has been increased in frequency to provide further safety, as the terminal is expected to handle over 50,000 people a day during the Songkran break, with 5,000 buses to transport over 100,000 people to and from the hub daily.

 

People traveling between April 8 and 18, who wish to cancel their trips, have been given the opportunity to do so. So far 4,160 tickets have been returned. Travelers using government aid programs, such as Rao Chana and welfare cards, cannot cancel trips but may delay their departure by over three hours.

 

Transport bus companies, such as Sombat Tour, have noted both an uptick in ticket purchases and ticket returns. They have affirmed that they are maintaining strict health and safety measures.

 

Sahaphan Tour, which operates buses to the northeast, reported it has only seen ticket returns ahead of Songkran and has had to cancel several buses held on standby. It revealed passengers have expressed concerns over the situation and that several firms have barred employees from traveling to the provinces, requiring that those returning enter quarantine for 14 days. One traveler indicated they were planning to go home to Yasothon, but had a change of mind after the new flare up of COVID-19.

 

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2021-04-11

 

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[RichardColeman]

6 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

and that several firms have barred employees from traveling to the provinces, requiring that those returning enter quarantine for 14 days.

Finally some sense from firms outside of the government control.  Let's also hope that quarantine is unpaid.

[EricTh]

Departing from Mo Chit means you are spreading the virus to other provinces! ????

 

This is hardly called 'stringent'... Having a temperature test doesn't prove anything because the virus might still be incubating.

[hotchilli]

Many people started traveling Thursday night into early Friday... Expect some will cancel but largely people had already made hard & fast plans that were hard to stop.

[unblocktheplanet]

Spare a thought for those who are working in transport. Uncle Too put a target on their backs. Ticket sellers, cleaners, drivers, bus attendants did not need to be put so mercilessly at risk.

[Gilltom]

15 hours ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Spare a thought for those who are working in transport. Uncle Too put a target on their backs. Ticket sellers, cleaners, drivers, bus attendants did not need to be put so mercilessly at risk.

Sad to say a lot of these workets don.t get furlough .so most carry on working don.t get social like they do in uk.

Vicious circle for these poor ppl

Doesn.t help if they have run out of tests .if that's true .and they won.t be able to pay private.

Got to have some sympathy for them 

I knew a lot of ppl say if they don't pay social but no1 saw this coming ????????