I was sceptical of his dire warnings. The apocalyptic devastation caused by a microbe-sized virus seemed too far fetched to take seriously. But I always remembered his closing remarks: ‘It’s not a case of if a pandemic happens, but when’.
He was spot on. My scepticism was misplaced. The ‘when’ is the here and now. We are living through history in the making, in a global experience that future generations of schoolchildren will study as a class project: ‘How the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak of 2020 changed everything’.
Almost overnight, the bus company day-today challenge of congestion has disappeared as the few buses left in service glide along empty roads not seen since horse and cart days. Worries about staff shortages have disappeared as companies lay off employees through a furlough procedure.
Running nearly empty
Buses on skeletal emergency timetables are travelling around pretty much empty save for those few people accessing essential work or needing to take the bus to buy food or medicines. Coach companies only recently looking forward to a busy Easter and summer season now have their fleets mothballed. No-one is making a group private hire booking when the maximum group allowed outside is two peo…
