• Government-regions meeting on transport on 10 August
  • School, principals: "We need alternative spaces for at least 20 thousand classes"

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10 August 2020Plexiglass dividers on the sides of the seats between passengers on suburban buses and regional trains so that they return to full load, masks for all passengers, shifts for staggered groups of students at different times, which in some cases could even anticipate entry in institutions. The Regions launch an appeal to the government for a transport test in September, which aims at exceptions to the Dpcm to avert the chaos of mobility in view of the return to school and the resumption of activities, when another ten million people will get back on the road between students, professors and families.

The goal of the governors is to obtain - thanks to mandatory dividers and masks on board - an exception to the distancing and that limit of 60% of passengers, to allow regional buses and convoys to return to travel using the normal capacity allowed before Covid.

"We need to reassess the obligation of spacing one meter on board the vehicles in the presence of operating and conduct conditions that allow adequate protection from contagion, starting with the mandatory use of the mask", ask the Regions.

The requests to the government came during the meeting between the governors, local authorities and the ministers of Transport, Health and Autonomies. According to the governors, the problem would concern the students themselves: "The Dpcm and the annexes in fact re-propose the limitations of the previous decree - they say -. In fact, these rules make it impossible to bring students to school if not half as much. those of high schools, without considering the fact that it is impossible to bring commuters and tourists during peak hours ". 

But Francesco Boccia optimistically assures that in a month the local public transport "will return to the pre-Covid phase", despite the virus still circulating. This provided that there is "strong coordination and maximum collaboration" among all "to avoid scattered order". And the first step has been taken: 700 million have been made available for local public transport for 2020. The government has "respected the commitments made", added Minister De Micheli while Speranza warns that "prudence must also be exercised in manage the restart in September ". The Minister of Health knows that now it will be necessary to work to "find a balance between the evaluations of the Technical Scientific Committee and the requests, including political ones, of Regions and Municipalities". This is why a document shared with local authorities is about to be drawn up and will be submitted to the CTS. 

We also aim for a "shared" solution between the government, regions and municipalities on the school bus service to ensure that all pupils can return to class, as the president of the conference of the Regions Stefano Bonaccini himself clarifies: "We close with a solution in time short, within the next week, "he explains.

In the next few days, in fact, the Regions, Provinces and Municipalities will prepare a table with the Ministry of Education where to propose, to meet the needs of the local public transport system, a modification of the entry times in schools within the time slots between 7.30 and 9.30 for secondary schools (middle and high schools) and - where necessary - more bus lines in the time slots of entry and exit from the institutes, between 7.30 and 9.30 and between 13.00 and 15.00. These measures could be accompanied by the proposal to provide for a reorganization of lesson times: in some schools they could even be brought forward to 8 in the morning.

Greater flexibility also emerges from what was drawn up in the annexes to the last Dpcm signed by Prime Minister Conte and explicitly dedicated to "guidelines for dedicated school transport": school buses will be able to travel with the maximum capacity allowed "in the event that the permanence of pupils in the vehicle is not longer than 15 minutes "and" if it is possible to align the students vertically on single seats and the so-called face-to-face positioning is excluded. In all other cases, the protocol points out, the distance of one meter must be respected. All students, with the exception of those under the age of six and those with disabilities, must wear a mask "when boarding the vehicle".