Philippines tries transport test run to prepare for commuter chaos

MANILA, May 26 (Reuters) - Police in the Philippine capital
did a dry run on Tuesday of measures to enforce social
distancing on public transport and control the spread of
coronavirus, a tricky task in a densely populated city known for
its commuting chaos.
More than 500 police trainees in Manila posed as rail
passengers in an exercise to manage hundreds of thousands of
people once public transportation eventually resumes, having
being closed for nearly 11 weeks.
Cadets in jeans, white T-shirts and face visors marched up
the stairs of a light rail transit (LRT) station before joining
orderly queues to platforms and filing slowly into spacious
train carriages.
"From early morning up to late at night there is always a
line of passengers waiting to ride a train. We are doing this
simulation to better prepare for the smooth operations of the
LRT," said Metropolitan Manila police chief Debold Sinas.
On a normal day, millions are on the move in and around
Manila, pushing transport networks to their limits.
Commuters typically use several different modes of transport
to get to work, joining long, snaking queues and before packing
tightly into buses, passenger jeeps and trains.
Manila has been under community quarantine since March 16 in
one of the world's longest coronavirus lockdowns. That was
modified 10 days ago to ease some restrictions and the
government will meet on Wednesday to decide whether to relax
them further.
The Philippines has reported 14,669 cases of the coronavirus
and 886 deaths.
LRT spokesman Hernando Cabrera said social distancing meant
each train will carry only 10% of its maximum passenger load,
making it difficult to managing the flow of people at stations.
"Only 160 passengers will be allowed. It's a very big
challenge for us to maintain and control the crowd once
operations begin," he said.