{"id":14489,"date":"2020-05-12T05:23:42","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T09:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/?p=14489"},"modified":"2020-05-17T23:33:37","modified_gmt":"2020-05-18T03:33:37","slug":"20-smrt-buses-retrofitted-to-help-transport-covid-19-patients-between-facilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/20-smrt-buses-retrofitted-to-help-transport-covid-19-patients-between-facilities\/","title":{"rendered":"20 SMRT buses retrofitted to help transport COVID-19 patients between facilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

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An air-tight partition on the COMET MAXI buses separates the passenger section\u00a0from the driver. An emergency door on the partition can only be opened from the driver’s side\u00a0when necessary.\u00a0(Photo: SMRT)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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SINGAPORE: Twenty buses from transport operator SMRT have been retrofitted to help with the mass transfer of COVID-19 patients between places such as hospitals, migrant worker dormitories and the various community recovery and care facilities.
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The buses, dubbed\u00a0COMET MAXIs (COVID-19 Multi-Passenger Enhanced Transporters), can take more than 30 passengers at each time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is an airtight partition separating driver and passenger compartment, as part of measures to minimise the risk of transmission.<\/p>\n

“Each compartment has its own independent air-conditioning system, which allows air circulation within both cabins to be separated,” announced SMRT on Tuesday (May 12) in a joint media release with Temasek Foundation,\u00a0Singapore-based engineering firm HOPE Technik\u00a0and Sheares Healthcare.
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“The passengers\u2019 compartment is equipped with a Negative Pressure System with a HEPA filter which will help ensure that only clean air is filtered out from the passengers\u2019 compartment.”
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One of 20 SMRT buses which have been retrofitted to transport COVID-19 patients. (Photo: SMRT)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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The driver\u2019s section includes seats for two additional passengers, if paramedics or escort officers are needed.\u00a0
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Drivers do not come into contact with passengers, and vehicles are decontaminated after each deployment.\u00a0
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TRIGEN Automotive, the special function vehicle division of HOPE Technik, was responsible for the engineering design and conversion work for the buses, which have been in operation since May 6.\u00a0
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READ:\u00a0Grab drivers, vehicles from SMRT unit deployed to help Health Ministry take suspect COVID-19 cases to hospital<\/a>
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It took about two to three days to retrofit each bus,\u00a0noted the head of TRIGEN Automotive Vic Naidu, adding that the work\u00a0done is reversible.\u00a0
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Speaking to the media on Tuesday, president for SMRT Roads Tan Kian Heong said that the buses have low floors, which make\u00a0them wheelchair accessible.\u00a0
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\u201cWe have chosen relatively new buses to make sure they are reliable on the road,\u201d he said, adding that the buses are from SMRT\u2019s \u201coperational spare pool\u201d to minimise the impact to public bus services.\u00a0
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READ:\u00a0COVID-19: Parts of Singapore Racecourse to be converted into recovery facilities for foreign workers<\/a>
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Sheares Healthcare owns the COMET MAXI fleet, which will be used to complement the Health Ministry\u2019s patient transport services,\u00a0while SMRT subsidiary STRIDES Transportation is responsible for overseeing the operations, driver training and maintenance of the vehicles.<\/p>\n

COMET MAXI drivers are not drawn from SMRT\u2019s pool of bus drivers, but are specifically recruited for the job and must have a Class 4 drivers licence.\u00a0\u00a0
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COMET MAXI drivers are required to wear personal protective equipment while on duty. (Photo: SMRT)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

They will first go through 20 hours of training\u00a0conducted by SMRT to familiarise themselves with the vehicles, said\u00a0STRIDES Transportation general manager Kelvin Soon.
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In addition, there was an additional two hours of training from the Singapore Civil Defence Force on the proper use of personal protective equipment, which they are required to put on while on duty.\u00a0
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BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments<\/a><\/h3>\n

Download\u00a0our\u00a0app<\/a>\u00a0or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak:\u00a0https:\/\/cna.asia\/telegram<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Singapore An air-tight partition on the COMET MAXI buses separates the passenger section\u00a0from the driver. An emergency door on the partition can only be opened from the driver’s side\u00a0when necessary.\u00a0(Photo: SMRT) 12 May 2020 03:57PM(Updated: 12 May 2020 04:03PM) SINGAPORE: Twenty buses from transport operator SMRT have been retrofitted to help with the mass transfer…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14489"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15293,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14489\/revisions\/15293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}