The government has just started re-running its seasonal flu adverts. It’s serious stuff, as the swine flu virus seems to affect people most in the age range 35-50 who are actually otherwise healthy.
But, here’s what an expert, a professor Lyndsey Davies, said yesterday lunchtime on the You & Yours Radio 4 programme:
“The simple hygiene messages [is] washing your hands regularly, particularly if you’ve been outside or on public transport…”And, take a look at your newspaper. You may come across an advert of an infectious passenger aboard a bus, passing the virus on by not containing a sneeze. As the Revd W Awdry said in the Thomas books, “Careful, James! You know what we engines say, ‘Coughs and sneezles spread diseasels’”, (referring, of course, to the inevitable coming of diesel power to the Fat Controller’s Island of Sodor railway).
It seems that the subliminal message, in avoiding swine flu, might be interpreted as “keep off the bus”, not one England’s operators would want spreading around as fast as the germs themselves.And think of the poor driver who has to handle notes and coins from thousands of potentially infected passengers. Perhaps there’s an argument for the drop safe, changeless farebox, after all.
15 comments:
"Perhaps there’s an argument for the drop safe, changeless farebox, after all."
A weak one, when there are other, better, more customer-friendly ways of getting cash handling away from the driver, such as vending machines at busy stops and the sales of preloaded smartcards and other prevalidated tickets at local shops[1]. But the bus industry continues with it, particularly TWM and Lothian, the latter being excellent in most other ways but still persisting with this most unfriendly approach.
[1] And I don't mean hidden, in the PayPoint system. Why not obvious and on display, even if they then have to be validated at the till to reduce theft?
Oh dear, more scare mongering from the health police. Of course these bugs can be dangerous but it was ever thus for the frail and the elderly. Nature's way of tidying up the population - it will be my turn soon! The problem with the current fashion for super hygiene is that we now over protect ourselves. This means we are ill-prepared for the bug when it strikes and it can strike harder as a consequence. Hand washing and hankies are the solution, not silly over protectiveness - and certainly not a hermetically sealed driver capsule as on "ftr" buses!
Transport staff in Hong Kong wear surgical face masks in some circumstances - I think a precaution introduced after the SARS outbreak. There are official guidelines as to when to do so. However, they do not handle cash, as fares are paid by Octopus card or into a cash vault.
Incidentally, while Busing has identified the age group at risk, I understood it is people with some other underlying problem (e.g. heart) who are most likely to become casulaties.
Having lived for near;y the 3/4th century where much of modern hygenic aids were not available, and working with cash and multi handled much of today's worry seems OTT overkill,
In fact, that people need continual "advice" is evidence of the demise of commonsense.
My wife, once a midwife, actually reckoned that babies born in a home had better immunity than those born in an aseptic environment of a hospital.
So with reasonable care,don't worry!
The risks associated with handling cash are not really very different to those for shop assistants, particularly those working in shops where large numbers of small value items are sold. By all means encourage pre-purchasing and off-bus ticket sales, but removing the facility to pay a cash fare (and receive change, if necessary) on the bus alienates occasional travellers, and visitors to the area. Perhaps operators should provide hand-cleaning tissues in the cabs?
As for the NHS advert, I do wonder why the bus industry's representative bodies don't complain more loudly about such an image being presented. After all, most passengers spent little more than 10 or 15 minutes on a bus, while they may spend hours in an office or school classroom, and quite long periods in congested shops (particularly during the January sales).
Keep off the tube!!!
I'd be cross at the message put across by this - it's very unsubtle propaganda against communal transport.
Interestingly, over in Jersey it's not the buses that are getting slammed into so much as the schools, and parents of schoolchildren (and this after we managed to give something like 85% of our population a swine flu jab).
I'm sure that if the NHS were advising people to avoid cinemas, theatres, churches, mosques, bingo halls, polling booths etc there would be an outrage. Public transport is the soft target.
“The simple hygiene messages [is] washing your hands regularly, particularly if you’ve been outside or on public transport…”
Unless you live in a depot how do you not go outside and go on public transport?
"Perhaps there’s an argument for the drop safe, changeless farebox, after all."
Perhaps the dropsafe could be used to safely deposit passengers' used tissues. Ugh.
However, it illustrates a very good point: why on earth don't bus operators clean grab rails each night. Try holding on to the greasy rail by the door and you'll see what I mean.
@ Fat Bus Bloke...
"certainly not a hermetically sealed driver capsule as on "ftr" buses"
What about the conductor, though?
Inobjectivity on inobjectivity, based on paranoia! You cannot contract the flu virus by simply touching either handrails, or cash. The skin is a perfectly effective natural barrier against the flu virus (and 99% of others too). You don’t need gloves or anti-bacterial hand-wash either. All that is needed is to wash your hands before touching food, and to take care not to put fingers in the mouth beforehand. Even that is a highly cautious move, as most bacteria have a very short life once they leave the warmth and moisture of the living carrier, so handrails and cash are not great habitats for them.
The flu virus is mainly transmitted by airborne particle inhalation in warm moist environments. All indoor public spaces do present this risk, and in that respect, the Japanese have got it right if you really want to take precautions, but the masks need to be surgical standard, with the correct micron-size filter assurance.
As for the suggestion of more fareboxes and no change policies, please remind me how many retailers use this method of cash collection?
It's worth pointing out that the Japanese see it as their civic duty to wear a mask if *they* are ill. It isn't about protecting yourself from others, it's about protecting others from you.
Maybe that's why some bus drivers only drive with one hand on the steering wheel. It reduces the chance of catching anything :-)
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