The transport plan begins on Thursday 16 September, but in many institutes the lessons have been resumed for days. The boys: “We come by bus and come back by train, but there are also those who stayed at home”
UDINE. Officially the school, in Friuli Venezia Giulia, will resume today. However, many high schools in the city anticipated the return to school at the beginning of the week, creating some difficulties for the local public transport system. In various areas of Udine, buses with boys piled on top of each other have been seen.
Everyone wore protective masks, but the much-announced 80% capacity seems to have remained, at least in recent days, only a wish. It was the students themselves who pointed out the most paradoxical situations, photographing the maxi-gatherings on the buses.
The problem is twofold: both the announced reinforcements at the Arriva Udine vehicle fleet and the new winter timetable for local public transport will only come into effect on Thursday 16 September.
This is why some bus lines at the time of the boys’ exit from the classrooms proved to be insufficient, and several students remained on foot. The vehicles at the service of the city schools, in fact, will begin to run from today.
“Was it so difficult to agree and make the start of lessons coincide with the start of the winter timetable for public transport?” Asks Andrea, a young student who is a witness to the inefficiencies in Udine and its surroundings, disheartened. «I found myself without a bus to reach Udine, forced to use the train and pay a ticket despite the season ticket in my pocket for the bus ride.
And the same happened to my other comrades. I really hope that soon things can be resolved ».
Andrea also experienced overcrowding on city vehicles, and especially on lines 10 and 4.
When leaving school, for example, on the route that connects the Bearzi to Piazza Primo Maggio, the boys from Copernicus and Sello threw themselves, eliminating any kind of social distancing: “The bus arrived already full – he says – and at least thirty of us were waiting for him. Only a third of us managed to climb, crushing one on the other. More than 80% of the capacity seemed to me to have gone over 100% ».
Asked about the incident, Arriva Udine denied the existence of critical issues on the city lines: “There was no risk of exceeding 80% of the capacity”. The perception had by the boys, and also corroborated by photos and videos, was distinctly different.
Today, as mentioned, things should be better. The Fvg Region, precisely to avoid problems related to gatherings, has made available 136 additional buses, 18 of which are already available to the Tpl Fvg operator and 118 for hire with driver, for a total of 335 trips and 2,348,000 kilometers of extra service.
In detail, the Udine area will have 60 additional vehicles plus a bus for the section managed by Ferrovie Udine Cividale. Trieste will have four more vehicles, 36 Pordenone and as many Gorizia. The upgrade guarantees a capacity lower than the maximum limit of 80% imposed at national level.
The Region has put in place an economic effort equal to 7.9 million euros, funds that should cover the State. The conditional is a must given that the Fvg is still awaiting the refreshment of what was anticipated for local public transport in the last part of 2020.
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