03 Aug 2020
Arriva blog: What are the implications of COVID-19 for rail operators across Europe?
Liz Benison, Managing Director, Mainland Europe
Last week, I spoke at the Global Railway Review online summit on the challenges and opportunities arising from COVID-19 and what this means for the future of rail travel in Europe.
The pandemic will undoubtedly accelerate changes already underway in pre-COVID times, including greater home working and the rise of online shopping. This will have implications for how and when people use public transport. However, exactly how this will play out is by no means clear and we can already see passengers respond in different ways. For instance, passenger numbers have already bounced back to near-normal levels on Arriva's rail services in Denmark, whereas in the Netherlands we are at the 50% mark.
What is clear is the need for the industry to demonstrate that public transport is safe to travel on and that passengers can travel with confidence. The industry has already been making innovative use of digital passenger counting systems as a way to help facilitate social distancing. Embracing new ways of thinking, including the potential of technological solutions, will continue to be key.
The industry also needs to tackle head on the risk that people will revert back to private car usage, with some perceiving this as a safer alternative. Not only does the industry need to challenge this, but it also needs to address the convenience deficit between mass transit and private car use. Closer integration between different modes, and embracing technological solutions like Mobility as a Service, could play a useful role in helping to close that deficit.
One of the things I am most proud of is how the crisis brought together operators like Arriva, Public Transport Authorities and Governments who all had a shared mission to keep services running for key workers, whilst keeping passengers and communities safe. I would like to see that partnership mentality continue so that we speak from the same page in championing the safety of public transport and ensuring mass transit is at the heart of policies to tackle climate change.
We have a real opportunity here to not only grow back better, but greener too.
You can hear what I say in full here on YouTube [from 18 mins in].
Contact information
Phil Curry
Senior Communications Manager
Arriva Group press office
+44 (0)7825 342 976
curryp@arriva.co.uk
