Vaccinated, recovered or tested: From this Wednesday, the 3G rule will also apply on buses and trains. But by no means every passenger can be checked.
From this Wednesday, stricter corona rules will apply in buses and trains: Passengers must then either be vaccinated, recovered or tested according to the so-called 3G rules.
Otherwise you have to get out of the respective vehicle at the next station. The changes to the Infection Protection Act passed by the Bundestag and Bundesrat last week now come into force. As the transport companies prepare for the controls, doubts remain as to whether the new rules can even be effectively enforced.
DB wants to do random checks
Deutsche Bahn announced on Tuesday that it would randomly check the 3G certificates on its trains and buses while they were traveling. The company’s own security services and train attendants are responsible for this. “This includes around 4,200 employees from DB Sicherheit as well as around 5,000 DB-owned service and control personnel or those working on behalf of DB in S-Bahn, RE and RB trains,” said the railway.
“In long-distance traffic alone, checks are planned on 400 connections in the first few days after the new rules come into force.” If you don’t show proof, you have to get off at the next stop. There the inspectors can also ask the federal police for assistance.
Even in the long-distance trains of the rail competitor Flixmobility, random checks are to be carried out exclusively during the journey, as a spokeswoman said on request. In the long-distance bus trips, which the company also arranges, passengers should show the 3G certificate when boarding – here too, not always and everywhere, but randomly.
Additional effort by the company
The rail competitors in regional transport must also see how they will implement the new rules. “The reservations still apply that it will not be easy to control it,” said Matthias Stoffregen, managing director of the Mofair association, in which the competition is organized. Even with previous measures, the additional expenses incurred by the railway companies were not reimbursed. But: “The federal and state governments made it clear in their decision on Thursday that they recognized the additional expense for the transport company,” said Stoffregen.
The passenger association Pro Bahn also expressed doubts about the controllability of the new rules. “Anyone who is traveling from Hamburg to Berlin and is caught shortly after Hamburg without a 3G certificate can still ride almost the entire route,” criticized the association’s honorary chairman, Karl-Peter Naumann. “They can’t control it at all in local transport.” Trained security personnel are needed for the controls, but there is too little of them. The two rail unions EVG and GDL had already expressed similar fears in the past few days.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, our employees have been doing an excellent job under the most difficult of conditions,” said Berthold Huber, Board Member for Passenger Transport, on Tuesday. “Now, too, they are faced with massive challenges again. That is why, in addition to random checks by our staff, we also rely on the participation of passengers in implementing the new legal regulations. “
Source From: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
