A Kiwi Indian bus driver in Auckland recalling the lockdown days shared his ordeal driving almost empty buses on empty streets of Auckland calling the experience ‘eerie’ and something out of a horror movie.
Karan Singh, an essential worker during Alert Level 4 lockdown, driving NZ Bus on different routes every day around Auckland says he would be terrified to witness desolated city and driving his bus from one stop to another until reaching his destination with barely a few passengers and sometimes just him driving the bus all alone.
Karan shared his ordeal of doing empty rides in contrast to the pre-Covid days when his bus would be fully stacked, end to end with passengers dropping them at different stops across different routes.
“The bus drivers have to do multiple routes on a daily and weekly basis and in almost all the routes would have the buses full that sometimes we had to deny passengers as the bus would have reached its capacity,” Karan said in an interview with the Indian Weekender.
Karan has driven on a number of routes such as Mt Albert, Sandringham, Mt Eden, Dominion Road, Mt Roskill, Auckland CBD, etc.
“I remember driving bus number 24R on the Sandringham routes, we start at 6 a.m., and up until 11 a.m. we would have full capacity reached and a very very busy day, and sometimes even weekends would be relatively busy with a reasonably good number of passengers both to and fro any route.
“Driving during the lockdown, we locked our front door, only essential travels were allowed and entry through the back door, we had marked the seats that passengers can take a seat in so that social distancing within the bus can be maintained. The drivers had to wear their protective gears that are masks and gloves and maintained our distances with the passengers as a standard operating procedure,” Karan Singh added.
Karan narrates his fear driving around the city as if he was living in a horror or a disaster film where the whole city is under quarantine and you never know even after taking precaution, where, when and how one can catch the infection.
“During those days, I would drive past the bus stops only to see it empty, no one waiting and that was quite a feeling to deal with mentally,” Karan said.
Karan added that he had seen reports of essential workers such as bus drivers, nurses and supermarket workers in the States, UK, Italy where they have contracted the virus only by being in close proximity of the passengers [patients/shoppers etc.] and going out to work daily was mentally challenging.
Karan lives with his wife and a three-year-old daughter and had to do the clean-up drill every night after returning from work.
“I would come back from work, leave the shoes outside, run straight to the washroom for shower and washing work clothes, hanging them to dry in the backyard garden and then see my wife and baby girl,” Karan said.
Karan said his family would be worried about his safety and still does when he heads out to work every day checking if he was doing okay health-wise, both mentally and physically.
Karan added that he is proud to have done his part as an essential worker, just like doctors, nurses, workers in the health sector, bus drivers’ like him, media personnel and supermarket workers who were on the frontline performing their duties with utmost diligence and honesty.
“Imagine doing a full bus runs, Monday to Sunday and then suddenly, not a person to be seen on the streets, this was one of the most daunting times for me; it took me days to come to the terms of it,” Karan added.
Karan says he prays that country goes back to normal, with Alert Level 2 announcement next week which still has restrictions so that country does not get another wave of Covid-19.
“I just hope and pray things soon go back to normal, at least in the next few months so that people can get back to their normal routine as before,” Karan added.
All photos supplied
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