Coronavirus: 'All public transport services continue to operate as normal', NTA insist
There are no plans to curtail public transport services in Ireland during the coronavirus outbreak.
The National Transport Authority (NTA) has clarified that all bus and rail services will continue to run as normal, with the exception of some commercially-run services.
Reports had emerged in recent days that Bus Éireann and Irish Rail schedules could be reduced to weekend or bank holiday levels to help minimise the spread of the virus.
There has also been a significant fall in demand for trains and buses as people work from home and engage in social distancing.
However, a spokesperson for the NTA told the that there are no plans to change public transport "with one or two possible minor exceptions".
"All public transport services continue to operate as normal throughout the country, bar a limited number of commercial services," he said.
Additional contingency measures "will be kept under constant review", he added.
"Any actions being taken by the NTA and public transport operators will be guided by the National Public Health Emergency Team and the advice of the Chief Medical Officer," the spokesman said.
Earlier this week, Irish Rail, Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus introduced a suite of measures to better protect rail and bus workers.
This included enhanced cleaning regimes on buses, focusing on frequently-touched surfaces such as hand-rails and ticket and coin machines, as well as issuing hand sanitiser to staff.
Among the other measures proposed is the "minimisation of train host requirement" which could be achieved through eliminating the use of the Mark IV fleet, but Irish Rail chief executive Jim Meade has told union officials that he "supports a more limited presence in the
passenger areas".
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