Face coverings are now compulsory for all passengers on our buses (unless they are exempt) as per the government guidelines. I think this is good news for us from both health and safety perspective and also for the future as hopefully 2M social distancing measures are reduced and the number of passengers allowed on a bus are increased. The measure also gives confidence to passengers that bus travel is safe, and they can return to commuting in an environmental manner and we get back to running some sort of normal bus service.
We have to play our part in this, and I have
noticed already that many people are complying with the law and wearing a face
covering as the week progressed. I have no doubt that we play a major part in
influencing this behaviour.
Firstly…...
Engage
with
the customer, greet them with a smile the chances are they will be fitting the
covering as you pull up. If for some reason the customer isn’t wearing one,
explain that everyone is required to wear one as per the government request,
remember some people are exempt and it is not up to us to be the judge and
jury, if they state they are then trust that is the case.
It helps to Explain why it’s important to wear a covering when on
our vehicles this encourages customers to wear one and finally, Encourage
thanking the
customer for wearing the covering as they get on the bus giving them a
thumbs up, sub consciously positively reinforcing a safe behaviour.
What we can also do
is wear a face covering when we take over or alight from a vehicle, this is to
demonstrate good practice.
