After over two months of shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kyiv metro has relaunched operations at all 52 of its stations across the Ukrainian capital.
Before reopening on May 25, the metro introduced a number of new safety rules to prevent the spread of the disease among passengers. All riders must now wear masks and maintain social distance from one another at the ticket counter and on the station platform.
The metro system’s reopening was a risky, but critical step toward returning some semblance of normal economic life to the Ukrainian capital.
The subway is Kyiv’s most critical — and crowded — form of public transportation. Before the shutdown, it transported upwards of 1 million people every day.
From a safety point of view, the first day of renewed operations was a success, and most riders obeyed the new measures. But that was largely possible because passenger flow was noticeably less than usual.
For many, what comes next is an open question.
Relief, but worry
The metro was not the first public transportation in Kyiv to return as the city started lifting quarantine restrictions.
As of March 23, all ground transportation in the city — including buses, trolleybuses and streetcars — had already resumed full operation.
But the metro system’s geographic reach, its passenger traffic and its usefulness for traveling around Kyiv made its reopening a litmus test of sorts for whether life is returning to normal. And until the last moment, it wasn’t clear whether the metro would be able to reopen.
Relaunching the metro was part of stage two of lifting quarantine measures. The government set up clear standards for which regions of the country could enter the second stage based upon the number of new cases of COVID-19, empty hospital beds and tests for the illness being conducted. Kyiv barely squeaked by at the last minute.
But for its passengers — and particularly for those critical employees who continued to work during the quarantine — reopening will be a blessing. The metro’s closure on March 18, roughly a week after the government announced its first quarantine measures, was a major disruption to their lives.
Many essential workers had to readjust their commutes and find new ways to get to work.
Surgeon Maksym Bihun, who works at one of the city hospitals, was one of them.
Bihun lives about 20 kilometers away from his work. Normally, it takes him about 40 minutes to reach the hospital by subway.
During the lockdown, however, his colleagues who own cars gave him daily rides instead.
“I had to adjust to my colleagues’ schedules, to wait on them,” Bihun told the Kyiv Post. “It was very difficult.”
As soon as the metro reopened, the surgeon took it to the hospital, which is located near the Holosiivska station on the blue line. After his shift was over, he rode the metro back to Sviatoshyn, a station on the red line near where he lives.
“It’s good they opened it. It’s much more convenient,” he said.
Still, although Bihun now plans to take the metro daily, he says he fears that opening the subway could lead to a spike in COVID-19 cases.
New rules
While it may be up and running again, the Kyiv metro has also changed to accommodate life during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Those changes are immediately visible. Right outside the entrance to every station there are stickers on the floor that guide passengers and help them stand 1.5 meters apart from one another to prevent the transmission of COVID-19.
More such stickers can be seen on the floor in front of the turnstiles, ticket windows and along the platforms.
Metro employees wearing masks and sometimes protective face screens appear to be attentively watching passengers. Should a passenger show signs of a respiratory infection, like sneezing or coughing, the metro staff is supposed to take their temperature. Anyone with a temperature above 37.2 degrees Celsius will not be permitted to enter the metro system.
However, at one of the stations, an employee offered to measure any passenger’s temperature.
According to the Kyiv Metro municipal enterprise, every metro train is disinfected before each ride. All door handles, ticket windows, turnstiles, escalator handrails, lobbies and station platforms are also disinfected regularly.
On the reopening day, most of the stations on all three lines were eerily empty. Only those in the city center distantly resembled their usually teeming selves.
All passengers wore masks, and some had latex gloves as well. Nobody seemed tempted to take their mask off after passing through the turnstile — probably because police officers were patrolling the stations to monitor compliance with the new quarantine rules.
Most passengers maintained social distancing on the platforms and in metro trains, sitting and standing as far apart from each other as possible.
However, that wasn’t the case on escalators or in the passages that connect metro stations on different lines. There, most people didn’t put any extra effort into maintaining distance, but simply rushed in the needed direction, ignoring the numerous posters, signs and ads calling on them to adhere to the new measures.
Engineer Tetiana Karlina, who was heading to work on the metro, says that passengers mostly obeyed the rules because there were few people and that made it possible.
“When there will be more people in several days, I don’t know what is going to happen,” Karlina told the Kyiv Post.
It is for that reason that city authorities encourage people who can continue to follow the stay-at-home recommendation to do so. But for many working people like Karlina, that isn’t an option.
The engineer says that she feels safe in the metro, but not because of the safety precautions — rather, because her sense of danger has grown dull over the past two months. She believes that’s the case for many people.
“Everyone’s tired from the quarantine,” she said.
CORONAVIRUS IN UKRAINE: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- As of May 25: 623 people have died from the disease in Ukraine and 7,234 have recovered.
- 21,245 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ukraine as of May 25. The first case was identified on March 3.
- Here’s what opened in Ukraine on May 12.
- How the Ukrainian government has been responding: TIMELINE
- Misinformation on coronavirus is viral in Ukraine.
- Where to buy masks.
- Why the Kyiv Post isn’t making its coverage free in the times of COVID-19.
- Coronavirus stops the Kyiv Post’s print edition for now.
Effects on the economy:
- COVID-19 is already inflicting harm on Ukraine’s economy.
- The former minister of economy says half a million Ukrainians may lose their jobs in the COVID-19 crisis.
