If it weren’t for the masks, they would be breathing each other’s necks – Economy

– In the streets of Belgrade since yesterday, everything remains the same, people rush to work, pensioners to the market, the central streets are full of cars and public transport vehicles. 1,059 of them took to the streets of the capital yesterday at four in the morning, and just before seven on the tram on line 7, which leads from Ustanička to Block 45, there were only four passengers.

Photo: Ljiljana Bukvic

After the Belgrade woman, the red tram, still clean, was empty. They mainly promote half-empty or completely empty buses. On average, there are no more than three or four passengers. There were hardly any people waiting for transportation at the stops in the city center. The few who came from the Medaković leadership, Banovo brdo, came to work.

There are about ten people on the newest bus on line 31. All wearing masks, some wearing gloves. The day before the normalization of city traffic, it was announced that certain rules would have to be followed: that guards would control who entered, that distance should be respected, that people would not be able to sit next to each other, that They would buy 250 tickets a day. However, since Thursday afternoon, all that suddenly changed and returned to its original state, the one before the epidemic.

There is no controller, bus-plus cards are valid for a long time, there is no ticket for 250 dinars. Of the announced but never implemented measures, only new decals remain on any other seat that warns passengers not to sit there. And in fact, in that thirty unit, everyone respected the sticker.

There are also stickers on the door, the first indicates that there is an entrance, all other doors are for the exit. However, that is not the case. As before, it goes in and out like someone who gets to where.

At the starting station in Trg republike, three buses parked on line 27. The driver of one of his colleagues explains to his colleagues that “there are no passengers since this morning”, but also shows that “he maintains and cleans the bus well” . The lady from whom the first escaped asks if the second bus will go to Mirijevo soon.

“I think everything is normal as of today. But I am a little afraid that people have relaxed,” she says. Arrived downtown from Zeleznik by car with a neighbor, will continue by bus to Mirijevo because he works in the library, which needs to be cleaned and prepared to open on Monday.

The buses arrive at the plaza empty. With a few passengers, there are also those heading to the outskirts of the city, and there were more than ten at eight o’clock on a corner of Boulevard kralja Aleksandra and Kneza Miloša. One after another. The lady who is photographing the scene of the large crowd that the traffic police are trying to control adds that there was a fire in the tunnel and that it appears to be the reason for the congestion. Just two months ago, the people of Belgrade knew that well, there was no need for a special excuse for such a collapse.

And although the streets look more crowded, the city transport was empty even after eight. From the first to the last tram stop on line number 6, there were a total of five passengers. It was similar in those who, as we drove down the Boulevard, passed us. There was no usual crowd on the Ustanička highway. The hub from which buses depart in triple-digit lines was filled with red articulated vehicles waiting for passengers. Drivers in masks and gloves took off their gear and bought breakfast and water. The buses to Ritopek and Begaljica left without passengers. Three people got off the bus that came from Leštan.

However, as time passes after half past eight, people begin to come. Not in groups, but in waves and the distance is slowly disappearing. Just half an hour after only two passengers left the city from the city direction, significantly more people entered the tram with the same number at the starting point for the city.

“Let’s follow these recommendations,” said the lady, adjusting to the red dot, one of several drawn on the concrete.

There were not enough points for everyone. And there were no stickers on the tram warning that we should not sit there. They all sat down one after the other. When the stations moved away, the tram was loading. There was no more room to sit. If almost everyone was not wearing masks, they would be breathing each other’s necks.

A knight without a mask coughed for a moment. However, no one looked at him. They all looked in front of them, the pensioners went out to the stations near the markets, the younger ones continued.

“What is this, at first you can do nothing, now you can do everything at once,” said one of the passengers before getting off the tram.

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