LOCAL bus operator Ensign, which is running an emergency schedule to keep public transport available to residents in Thurrock, says it has picked up a 'worrying' trend that people may be beginning to flout travel guidelines imposed to combat coronavirus.

Purfleet-based Ensign and its staff have won widespread praise for the way they have managed to keep a limited service running under difficult conditions.

Today (Friday, 3 April), director Steve Newman spoke to Thurrock Nub News about how the company is coping.

He says: "We continue to run our emergency timetable and have added a number of extra journeys in to assist NHS staff shift patterns.

"Passenger wise we would be around 80-90 per cent down on a regular day but the worrying trend this week has been a small uptick in unnecessary travel with drivers noting the same people travelling once or twice a day to same places and some commenting 'they just wanted to get out'.

"We can only reaffirm government advice and urge people to only travel if they absolutely need to as pointless journeys just risk key workers, including our own staff who continue to do an amazing job, from becoming infected."

Meanwhile Ensign are looking into a statement from the government issued this morning in Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced a funding boost totalling £397m for 'vital bus operators'.

The statement says the package, agreed jointly with the bus industry, will keep key routes running to provide a lifeline for those who cannot work from home, including those travelling to jobs on the frontline of the UK's fight against Covid-19, such as NHS staff.

New funding of up to £167 million will be paid over twelve weeks under the new Covid-19 Bus Services Support Grant. As a condition of the funding, bus operators will be required to maintain necessary services at a level which is sufficient to meet much reduced demand, but also to allow adequate space between passengers on board. This is expected to be up to 50 per cent of normal service levels.

Mr Shapps said: "We have been very clear during the outbreak that the best way to stop the spread of the virus and protect the NHS, is to stay at home if possible.

"Our buses are a lifeline for people who need to travel for work or to buy food – including our emergency services and NHS staff – and it's absolutely vital we do all we can to keep the sector running.

"This multi-million-pound investment will protect crucial local transport links across England, bolstering the sector and minimising disruption for passengers in the long term."

The Government has also promised that £200 million of existing funding under the Bus Services Operators Grant will continue to be paid as normal even though not all services may run during this time. This funding is usually paid according to fuel consumption, and so the Government's commitment to pay this on pre-Covid-19 levels will help ensure that bus companies are able to benefit despite fewer fare-paying passengers travelling.

This is in addition to up to £30 million of extra Government bus funding, originally earmarked for starting new services, which will instead be paid to local authorities to maintain existing services.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, said: "It's vital people protect our NHS by staying at home during the outbreak – but we also need to ensure that doctors, nurses and other key workers, can travel to and from their jobs.

"This funding will provide a lifeline for those on the frontline as well as those who cannot work from home."

Councils have also been encouraged to maintain their existing subsidies for concessionary fares to ensure that older and disabled people can still travel when they need to, for example to reach the shops, hospitals and doctors' surgeries.

Mr Newman says it will take time to digest the statements, adding: "The simple facts are there isn't enough detail to know what it covers and for whom and how. We understand fully it's a fluid situation and any help is to be welcomed but too early for us to say if it's the answer to keeping everything running as we are for an extended period.

"But it's too early to give you an incisive commentary."