Xinhua News Agency, Shanghai, April 3 (Reporter Xu Xiaoqing, Zhou Rui, Wang Jingyuan) There are no passengers in the empty bus compartment, only vegetables, fruits, meat and eggs are transported. This was unexpected before Master Bian, who had been driving for 15 years on the bus line across Huangpu River.
Bus No.986 of Pudong Bus Company, which is equipped with the "Shanghai Living Materials Guarantee" pass, recently welcomed a group of special "passengers" — — Vegetables, eggs, pork, etc., these fresh "passengers" are sent directly to several residential areas in Pudong, which are undergoing global static management.
Since March, the number of confirmed cases and asymptomatic infected people in COVID-19 has increased significantly. Since March 28th, a new round of nucleic acid screening has been implemented in batches in Shanghai with Huangpu River as the boundary. Pudong and Puxi are the first, and the living materials and people’s livelihood security of nearly 25 million Shanghai residents have become the top priority.
According to the arrangement of government departments, some 986 buses temporarily bid farewell to the familiar cross-river routes, and the drivers "transformed" into vegetable delivery personnel through the major communities in Pudong, and cooperated with the collection and distribution points in Hema Community to deliver materials.
"In the past, Puxi Pudong has been driving back and forth, from Sinan Road in Huaihai Middle Road to Jiangyue Road in Pudong. It was really lively along the way. I am not used to driving on such an empty road these two days." Master Bian said that everyone has taken the bus. It’s really the first time to carry only vegetables and eggs.
As a supplier, Master Bian carries out regular nucleic acid tests every day to confirm his health before entering a new day’s work. Sitting in the driver’s seat of the "vegetable bus", he insisted on his old costume, wearing a uniform and tie, and at the same time wearing a tight mask and disinfecting his hands. Master Bian calculated that a trip to the special supply line can deliver more than 200 bags of daily necessities, and with more than 10 buses joining, Master Bian and his driver partners can serve thousands of households every day.
"Thanks to the old drivers for their help!" Box Horse Platform recently posted a message on its official website thanking the drivers of these temporary "vegetable buses". This model has also been extended to some areas of Puxi, Shanghai.
The "vegetable bus" is one of many new measures to ensure the dining table of 25 million citizens in Shanghai under this round of epidemic.
Bus 986 carries a large number of vegetables to be transported to several residential areas in Pudong. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)
Gu Jun, head of the material support group of the Shanghai Leading Group for Epidemic Prevention and Control and director of the Municipal Commission of Commerce, said that Shanghai has not only established a special service support team and set up a 24-hour service support hotline to respond to the "urgent, difficult and worrying" problems in the provision of living materials in a timely manner, but also tried its best to ensure the normal operation of the supplier enterprises, the normal traffic of the supplier vehicles and the normal employment of the supplier personnel.
Moving goods, tally and delivery … … In the past few days, the Metro store in Putuo District of Shanghai has been extremely busy, with vegetable packaging and transportation workers sweating like rain, in sharp contrast to the quiet urban community. Chen Zhiyu, deputy CEO of Metro China, said: "Now all employees are on duty, striving to ensure supply. Our shopping malls in Pudong and Jinshan have recalled all employees to the store in advance. "
Ding Dong buys vegetables. The big warehouse of fruits and vegetables in Pudong New Area of Shanghai is still brightly lit in the early hours of the morning, and hundreds of processing lines are running continuously and busily. According to the relevant person in charge, in response to the new round of closure and control, Ding Dong bought food in a timely manner to supplement and deploy employees, and there were thousands of front-line security employees serving the whole city of Shanghai.
In April, agricultural products from Anhui, Zhejiang, Shandong, Jiangsu, Yunnan and other places are constantly heading for Shanghai. Under the epidemic situation, the lack of transportation capacity has become a major difficulty in ensuring the "vegetable basket". Transport modes such as "vegetable bus" are just to get through the "last mile" of delivery to home.
Chen Zhiyu said that Metro’s online delivery range has been expanded from 5 km to 7 km. If you are hungry, the platform will cooperate with fresh merchants such as Daily Youxian and RT Mart to increase the capacity.
Master Bian, the bus driver, hopes that his temporary status as a "vegetable bus" driver can help more families, and also hopes that the city will overcome the epidemic as soon as possible and the daily bus lines connecting the two sides of the Huangpu River will resume as usual.