(07 Jan 2022, 6:56 pm)DeltaMan wrote At the start of the pandemic "patchy" is probably a fair statement

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com...455845.amp

I have to say some of the travelling public do not help. I've witnessed first hand customers passing masks between themselves onboard

Patchy to non-existent then, but sad to say that I don't find that report surprising at all. 

I notice that some operators still have the 2m marking and front seats blocked off for example, but others have nothing. I don't think any have measures in place for customers either, which is actually putting the driver at more risk due to having more people crowding into a confined space. A space that is poorly ventilated and left to the mercy of the customers to control. 

You may find this paper from Feb 2021 of interest; especially the table on Page 21. Quite clearly there's a lot more that operators (and other businesses) could do to keep staff safe, but the bare minimum approach and stripping back safety measures as soon as possible, shows a complete lack of regard to staff never mind the customer.

(07 Jan 2022, 7:39 pm)Andreos1 wrote Given the levels of traffic around key retail sites recently, I'd hazard a guess there's going to be even more delays and missed runs tomorrow. In addition to the runs already cancelled. 

Can see people waiting an hour for a service which is normally every 12mins or so on a Saturday.
It's not going to do the operators long-term prospects any good.
People will see these services as unreliable (regardless of the pandemic) and I can't see too many being that understanding when that hour waiting is cold, wet and possibly snowy. Particularly with kids in tow.

I have some sympathy for the operators being put in to this situation, but I still think a lot of the issues are a legacy of poor management and those poor managers getting away with far too much, for far too long. Drivers aren't just a number to be easily replaced. The pandemic has shown that.

---

I'd love to know what measures have been put in to place around driver handovers.
I've seen driver handovers, but I've not seen any drivers clean and sanitise the cockpit (either getting in or getting out) or the van they've used to get from Washington depot to the Galleries and vice versa.

People already see public transport as unreliable. This is, in addition to months of daily service disruptions, going to take that opinion to a nuclear low and perhaps do some irreparable damage. 

I've seen cab cleaning taking place at changeovers, but its few and far between. I believe the companies provide the equipment and substances to do this, but it's still up to whoever is taking the bus over to do it. It's a human factor and one within the worker's control, but this aside, there are so many environmental factors outside of the worker's control that is putting them at high risk. which that paper I shared in the post above illustrates.

The environmental factors may be outside of an individual worker's control, but they're certainly within the employer's control. 

I've never actually seen any risk assessments from the transport sector, but have reviewed and worked on them throughout COVID in other sectors. Happy for anyone to drop me an email with any (anonymously of course  )