Bus Captains May Get COVID-19 Booster Shots Soon

By
Shawn Ambrose
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While hundreds of cases have been linked to staff working at bus interchanges, most workers have shown mild or no symptoms, and no one has fallen seriously ill.

The reason for this is obvious.

Reader: All our bus captains are from the Marvel Universe? 

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Uh… maybe, but there’s another reason.

A large percentage of public transport frontline workers have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

In a statement earlier his month, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said that over 95% of public transport frontline workers have been fully inoculated, with more than 99% having received their first dose.

The statement noted that these workers were among the first groups to be offered vaccinations earlier this year.

Since most of them took their jabs in the first quarter of the year, they may now be eligible for a booster shot.

Bus Captains May Get COVID-19 Booster Shots Soon

The National Transport Workers’ Union is currently in discussion with LTA about the need for COVID-19 booster shots for frontline public transport workers.

In a post on Facebook, Radin Mas MP Melvin Yong said that the high vaccination rate among our bus workers had possibly prevented a potential bigger outbreak.

Case numbers in the bus interchange clusters soared since they were discovered last month, but the rate of infection seems to have slowed in the past week.

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No new cases have been detected in bus interchanges for the last two days. Our biggest bus interchange cluster is the one linked to the Toa Payoh bus interchange, which has 254 cases.

Learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine here:

Longer Waiting Times; 5 Bus Services Suspended Due to Manpower Shortage

Earlier this month, LTA said commuters should be prepared for longer waiting times for buses due to a shortage of manpower.

Waiting times for the majority of services are expected to go up by five minutes, but for a small number of them, the delay could exceed 10 minutes.

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What’s more, five bus services operated by Go-Ahead Singapore have been suspended temporarily due to a shortage in manpower.

The suspension, which involves express and city direct services, kicked in on 15 Sep.

The five services suspended are:

  • 12e
  • 43e
  • 518
  • 661
  • 666

According to the operator, the suspension was driven by the “impact of COVID-19 on available manpower.”

Trunk bus services 12 and 43 will continue to operate, however.

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Commuters who will be affected by the temporary suspension are advised to use the MRT or take other bus services.

Explaining the decision, the Land Transport Authority said it approved the suspension as these bus services have a lower demand.

This way, bus captains can be redeployed to serve higher demand trunk and feeder services, it said.

Manpower Situation “Stabilising” 

During a recent visit to Boon Lay bus interchange, Mr Yong said he met with a number of bus captains who had recovered from COVID-19 and were happy to return to work.

While they were ill, many of their colleagues had to take on additional duties to cover for them.

“With more bus captains recovering and returning to the frontline, I’m glad that the manpower situation is stabilising,” Mr Yong said.

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And get this – some bus captains also told Mr Yong that despite the longer waiting times, commuters have been appreciative and understanding.

Yes, there are some Singaporeans out there who can wait patiently for a delayed public transport service without complaining. Where were they during all the MRT disruptions?

“Public support for our bus workers is crucial and I would like to thank everyone for your kindness and patience during this challenging time,” Mr Yong wrote.

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Featured Image: Mahsun YILDIZ / Shutterstock.com

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]