Ábalos has conveyed to the regional officials that the restrictive measures to limit mobility ordered by his Department are giving very satisfactory results, as it has been verified that there has been a drastic reduction in travel throughout the territory. In this sense, he wanted to thank the collaboration between administrations for their achievement and effectiveness.
The minister has also ensured that he is satisfied with the degree of collaboration and fluidity of information with the different departments of the Departments, mainly through the General Directorate of Transport.
Essential service worker housing
The head of the Department has also announced that a Ministerial Order will be approved, along with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, on hotel establishments, which will allow accommodation in them for workers who carry out essential jobs such as security forces and bodies, people who work in infrastructure maintenance and construction, health care, general supply, rescue and maritime security, freight and passenger transport, and the like.
Ábalos, during the telematic meeting he has held with the transport advisers of the different Autonomous Communities, has ensured that the voluntary opening of other establishments to provide services to these same groups will be allowed.
In this sense, he added that the Ministerial Order determines that they will provide a restaurant service and any other service that is necessary for the proper provision of the accommodation service, when they are enabled to do so, and in all of them access to cleaning and catering facilities and services for professional freight carriers, even if they are not housed.
Today, another Ministerial Order will also be approved to facilitate the transport of animals, necessary to guarantee the supply of the population.
Fight the pandemic with the necessary means
Ábalos has claimed to have two fundamental objectives: the first is to combat the pandemic with all possible means, subjecting government action to the deployment of the necessary means to achieve it. The second is to mobilize all possible economic resources to meet the demands of the health system as a whole, to support all people, self-employed, small and large companies, who will suffer the impact of this situation.
The minister recalled that since Saturday the 14th, the Mitma has as its sole objective, that of minimizing displacement, in order to prioritize the traffic of goods, especially of sanitary material and essential goods. Also displacements for just cause and those of force majeure.
First week Alarm State
As reported by the minister, over the past week, a series of Ministerial Orders and Resolutions have been approved that develop, clarify and complete the measures contained in the Royal Decree that declared the state of alarm and that has passed to detail:
- The access of professional carriers to the services necessary to facilitate the transport of goods throughout the national territory (cleaning, cooking, catering, etc.) has been guaranteed. To compel compliance with this rule and solve the problems that are occurring, the help of the Civil Guard and the regional police have been requested.
- Each regional or local authority has been authorized to set the percentages of reduction of public transport services that they consider appropriate.
- There has been a temporary exemption from compliance with the rules on driving and rest times in the transport of goods throughout the country.
- Air traffic in the Autonomous Cities of Ceuta and Melilla was suspended, except for state, merchandise, health or emergency flights. Same measures for maritime traffic.
- Air and maritime traffic in the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands was regulated, in full collaboration with these autonomous communities, to restrict the movement of air and sea passengers to the islands as much as possible. Freight traffic is exempt from these measures.
- To guarantee the distance between passengers, a whole series of measures have been established in public transport and in the tourist vehicle, both public and private.
- The opening of establishments for the leasing of driverless vehicles has been authorized both for the professional use of freight carriers and, as of today, for all the cases included in the decree of the state of alarm.
- To protect personnel related to the transport sector, a massive purchase of 8 million masks will be made. Puertos del Estado will be the body responsible for contracting for the emergency procedure.
Drastic reduction of mobility
The minister has assured that, after a week of the declaration of the state of alarm, mobility throughout the territory has been considerably restricted, later detailing:
- 90% in Cercanías
- 95% in High Speed and long distance
- More than 90% on the road
- Almost 70% in air mode. 877 flights were scheduled yesterday compared to the 4,849 that occurred the same day a year ago.
It is for this reason that, as expressed by the minister today, new measures have been approved to further restrict transport services:
- In Cercanías services are reduced to 50% in off-peak hours. At peak times these services will be 80%.
- In the rest of the public transport services, services are reduced by up to 70%
- In AVE and Long Distance, the final offer of places will be 10% compared to that existing a few days ago, since the offer will be 30%.
