Quarantine takes its toll on Brazil’s public transport companies

The Covid-19 pandemic has already infected 20,727 Brazilians and killed 1,124 others. So far, state and municipal governments have decreed the closure of non-essential businesses, allowing only key commerce such as supermarkets, gas stations, and pharmacies to remain open. As such, with all non-critical movements being frowned upon, the number of people on the street has severely decreased in major cities. The effects of this are already being felt by Brazil’s transport companies.

Brazil’s rail and subway systems, for instance, usually responsible for transporting more than 12 million passengers per day, recorded losses of BRL 271 million and an average reduction of 82 percent in passenger traffic in the space of only nine days after the beginning of isolation measures.

According to the association of railway transportation companies, the sector is expected to lose a further BRL 261 million every week that isolation measures remain in place.

With the need for personnel of essential businesses to commute to and from work, public transport systems cannot close completely. Therefore, to compensate for these losses, companies asked the federal, state, and municipal governments for more credit to continue...