As countries respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic by imposing social distancing and stay-at-home orders, the transport sector is critical for controlling the disease and ensuring essential transport and logistic services are maintained.

 

About the Transport Global Practice

The Transport Global Practice provides clients with physical and virtual connectivity solutions, to facilitate the movement of people, goods and information, thus enabling access to food, jobs, health and education services, and stimulating economic and social development.

 

The Transport Global Practice of World Bank Group Presents a New Webinar Series - Sustaining Resilient Transport Services in the COVID-19 Pandemic. This special webinar series will share hands-on experiences with government agencies and public transport operators in order to especially help those who are more vulnerable facing these imminent challenges. 

 

The first webinar of the series “Ensuring Essential Transport Services during the COVID19 Outbreak: Experiences from Shenzhen and Beijing” is hosted by China Transport Team and Urban Mobility GSG and chaired by Global and Regional Director (Guangzhe Chen) and Practice Manager, Central Asia, China, and Mongolia (Binyam Reja) from World Bank Group Transport.

 

Shenzhen Bus Group（SZBG）was invited to join the webinar to introduce its timely and comprehensive actions and responses which has so far avoided any major situation in operation. SZBG's Deputy General Manager (Joe Ma) and Head of International Development (Hallie Liao) presented Shenzhen Bus’s experience in combating Covid-19 such as how to adjust bus and taxi operations to maintain essential services throughout the outbreak and how this has changed Shenzhen Bus’s operations permanently, from institutional arrangement to preventive measures, procurement of medical equipment and sanitation materials, communication with staff and the media, as well as human resource management. 

 

Beijing Transport Institute was also invited to discuss about demand and supply changes in the urban transport system. Director( Jifu Guo) shared their experience covering topics such as private vehicle, taxi and ride sharing, bike sharing, bus and subway, and urban logistics, especially the role of smart technology and data analytics, including how a mobile reservation system is piloted to help encourage staggered shifts and reduce passenger wait time during rush hour.

 

Participants also included Lead Transport Specialist (Gerald Paul Ollivier), Senior Urban Transport Specialist (Bianca Bianchi Alves) and Senior Urban Transport Specialist (Wenyu Jia) from the World Bank Group.

 

Sources: Transport Global Practice, World Bank Group