Coronavirus: what changes are being evaluated to strengthen controls on public transport

Emilia Vexler

06/16/2020 - 16:51

• Clarín.com
• Society

The concentration of positive coronavirus cases continues to rise in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA), which gathers 90% of confirmed infections throughout the country. To avoid the "crossing" of asymptomatic people between the City and the Province of Buenos Aires, it was announced that the police forces of both districts will work together to intensify controls at the transfer centers between the two jurisdictions.

As the subway already works with closed stations, and in the City there are train stops that are not working, the evaluation involves reinforcing the controls so that the already established rules for distance and travel with seated people are respected. 

“Public transport  (can only be used by workers in the so-called essential items ) is the area where infections can occur most easily . In the City we control that only those who can travel sitting and distancing enter the subway. The passengers in the buses are also being controlled, "explained Marcelo D'Alessandro, secretary of Justice and Security of the City, on Tuesday.

According to data provided to Clarín from that ministry, 6% of passengers travel by subway compared to what they did before quarantine. As for trains, the travel booking system has already been tested in the Miter , which could be extended to other lines. 

"In the City, as it has more open activities, the City Police have been deployed to control quarantine and also crime and maintain the drop in the number of crimes. After 20, for example, there are more police officers in the green space area and during the day in shopping areas. During the day, pedestrians are also controlled, as well as passengers on public transport, "said D'Alessandro.

In the midst of the bid between the Capital and the Province for the hardening or not of social isolation, the differences between the governments of Axel Kicillof and Horacio Rodríguez Larreta become increasingly evident. This Tuesday, the government minister from Buenos Aires, Teresa García, insisted that the quarantine must be tightened and pointed to the circulation of people in public transport and cars . "A lot of people call because they say there are no controls on the City side," said Garcia. 

While awaiting announcements about new specific inter-jurisdictional actions, from the Buenos Aires side, the Detect operation is following the steps of the coronavirus in Constitución , one of the largest nodes, where passengers from the City and the GBA converge. The operation installed its base in San Juan and Luis Sáenz Peña. 

In the City there are 111 accesses , 48 of which are open, 26 are pedestrian crossings and 37 are closed and only open in an emergency . Since the activity was expanded, the federal forces have been in charge of the controls at the Pueyrredón Bridge, the North access, the La Noria Bridge, and two southern area accesses, which are Highway 27 de Febrero and the Olympic Bridge. In this way, Buenos Aires officials can have a greater deployment within the City.

The Federal Police told this newspaper "not to be able to give statements." But that Force has jurisdiction over all trains and, according to official sources, "they will intensify the controls at the main stations ", in order to control that the passengers have the Unique Enabling Certificate for Traffic (CUHC).

According to the morning part of the Ministry of Health of the Nation, until this Tuesday, in the province of Buenos Aires, 13,748 positive cases were registered since the start of the coronavirus outbreak in Argentina. In the City, meanwhile, cases reach 15,282. On the last day there were 552 new cases in Buenos Aires and 575 positive cases in Buenos Aires.

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