Photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Emaduddin Khalil, Staff Reporter

All the 7,625 school buses in the emirate have been completely disinfected and are ready for use when students return to schools, said Ateeq Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Director of Operations Department, Public Transport Sector of the Integrated Transport Centre in Abu Dhabi.

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19, the centre has taken precautionary measures at the highest levels, he stated, noting that the centre disinfected 632 buses and placed 20,000 awareness posters on the chairs of public buses, urging the public to abide by physical distancing rules.

The number of passengers on buses were reduced by 65 per cent to 15, down from 47, he added, noting that the centre instructed drivers to disinfect buses after every trip, pay attention to all areas that passenger could touch and provide hand sanitizer in all buses. As soon as the National Disinfection Programme begins, all buses and are disinfected in the evening for use again in the following morning, he said.

As far as the measures taken in taxis are concerned, Al Mazrouei stated that there are 6,390 taxis and that isolators were installed between passengers and drivers, adding that the number of passengers was reduced to a maximum of two passengers. Taxis stop working during the National Disinfection Programme, which starts at 10pm and continues till 6am, he said.

The centre called on drivers to stop by the regular bus-stops to avoid fines, noting that car-parks are still free.

Separately, a new customer-centric initiative helps people to shop homegrown brands as customers order from stores and collect items from designated pick-up locations across City Walk, La Mer and The Beach.

The initiative launched by Meraas offers a contactless pick-up service, that will keep customers connected to their favourite local retailers and restaurants in a safe and convenient way.

The “Curbside Pickup” service enables customers to collect orders from their favourite stores with a reduced waiting time, through a simple, contactless three-step process: