Project News

On February 26, 2021, JICA and the JICA project team organized a workshop focused on "COVID-19 and Public Transport" with the participation of local stakeholders in Belgrade.

The impact of COVID-19 on economic activities, especially in urban areas has been enormous. Moreover, the impact on public transport operators striving to provide regular mobility services for citizens has been severe, and this is a common issue for cities around the world. The twin key challenges are to keep public transport viable during the pandemic, and to provide mobility while reducing the risk of infection. To this end, it is important to share the information and lessons learned through the efforts made in cities around the world.

At the beginning of the workshop, the JICA project team introduced the countermeasures being taken in Japan and other cities around the world, and examples of the use of Google Mobile Data. Next, the City of Belgrade's Secretariat for Public Transport's (SfPT) efforts on infection prevention measures were introduced. SfPT recognizes that raising public awareness is a critical issue for people to use public transportation while taking proper infection prevention measures - this has been done through efforts such as creating their own campaign videos. All of the presentations were very useful and it was a valuable opportunity to share information in order to promote this project in the future.

Attendees for the workshop included managers and staff members of several departments within SfPT, UITP staff, public transport operators, the local tariff system contractor, local consultants from Serbia, JICA headquarters staff, Balkan office staff and project team experts from Japan.