DOOMSDAY DECISION

How would London have coped had all its buses, tubes, trains and taxis been ordered off the road for the Covid lockdown? That is what happened in the Philippines last year. SIMON CLARK explains its impact on everyday life and on plans for massive transport investment.

Buses queue back as far as the eye can see beside the Metro station at Cubao, Quezon City by the MRT. Over-bussing, particularly in places like this where they congregate to load and unload, is commonplace in Manila.

Imagine if the Covid-19 pandemic had brought all public transport in the UK to an abrupt halt last March without any prior warning, instead of being scaled down in response to increasingly tightening controls on what we could or could not do outside our homes.

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