Items

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  2022-04-11

  When You Ride DC Circulator You Must Wear A Mask

  This is an Instagram post by dc_circulator. This is a PSA on why you should wear a mask while riding the DC Circulator. In the caption, it says that there will be no ride if there is no mask. This PSA is meant for people living in Washington DC and use the public transit there. While some places around the US have been lifting restrictions, the US Capitol still has many in place, at least for public transportation.
• 
  2021

  “Catching the 8am train”

  I love the colors in the piece. It also reminds me when it was safe to ride public transportation. This piece is by @uzo.art titled “Catching the 8am train”.
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  2020-10-28

  混雑戻り感染懸念も・・・鉄道の換気を検証　結果は？(2020年10月28日) - Concerns about returning to crowded situation ... Verifying railway ventilation What are the results? (October 28, 2020)

  Japan is the country that uses public transportation a lot compared to the United States. I personally also commuted to school with train for more than 10 years and it is normal to use public transport to commute and to get anywhere rather than your own car. Parking on streets is very hard to find and all parking lots are very expensive, especially in downtown areas. It is also just more convenient to use public transport because Japan is one of the countries that trains/bus are never late and come on time. This news is really important because infection can easily happen in trains if it is not ventilated properly and people are not taking distances. However, Japan is very rigid on rules about time and a lot of workers have to get to work on certain time, which causes crowds on trains/bus at certain time. 最近、また列車が混んできたなと感じることが増えてきました。気になるのは車両の中の換気です。ある研究データが出てきました。 　シミュレーションの結果は意外なものでした。一時はガラガラだった列車も、いつの間にかコロナ前の混雑が戻りつつあります。気になるのは感染リスクです。混み具合によって車内の空気の流れはどのように変化するのか・・・。 　鉄道総合技術研究所は、この「換気」の問題に焦点を絞り、シミュレーションを実施しました。例えば乗客ゼロの状態と、乗客が増えて立っている人ですべてのつり革が埋まっている乗車率100％の状態を比べると、換気の効率にどのような違いが出るのか・・・。 　条件は6カ所の窓を10センチ程度開け、時速70キロで走行した場合です。結果、乗車率ゼロでも乗車率100％でも換気効率に大きな違いは出ませんでした。 　これは乗客が増えると、その分、車内の空気の体積が減るため。乗客がいないと5.3分に1回のペースで車内の空気が入れ替わりますが、乗車率100％だと4.5分。むしろ早まることが分かりました。ちなみに山手線の混み具合はコロナの影響が出る直前の2月初旬を「100」とした場合、5月に38％まで落ち込んだものの、その後、徐々に回復し、先月は65％まで戻しています。 　今回のシミュレーションでは乗客が増えても空気の流れ自体にはさほど悪い影響がないことが分かりました。ただし、乗客が増えることによって不特定多数と接近してしまうなどのリスクは今回の計算には含まれていません。 Recently, I feel that the trains are getting crowded again. What is concerning is the ventilation inside the vehicle. Some research data came out. The result of the simulation was surprising. The train, which was once rattled, is returning to congestion in front of Corona. What is concerning is the risk of infection. How does the air flow inside the car change depending on how crowded it is? The Railway Technical Research Institute focused on this "ventilation" problem and conducted a simulation. For example, if you compare the state of zero passengers with the state of 100% occupancy rate where all the holding straps are filled with people standing with more passengers, what kind of difference will there be in ventilation efficiency? The condition is when 6 windows are opened about 10 cm and the vehicle travels at 70 km / h. As a result, there was no big difference in ventilation efficiency between zero occupancy rate and 100% occupancy rate. This is because the volume of air inside the car decreases as the number of passengers increases. If there are no passengers, the air inside the car changes at a pace of once every 5.3 minutes, but if the occupancy rate is 100%, it takes 4.5 minutes. It turned out to be rather quick. By the way, if the congestion level of the Yamanote Line is set to "100" in early February just before the influence of the corona, it dropped to 38% in May, but then gradually recovered and returned to 65% last month. .. In this simulation, it was found that even if the number of passengers increased, the air flow itself was not so badly affected. However, the risk of approaching an unspecified number of passengers due to an increase in passengers is not included in this calculation.
• 
  2020-03-16

  Sign of Things to Come

  The images were all taken in the morning of March 16, the first working day after the community quarantine was announced. Lots of people were shocked at the sudden scarcity of public vehicles, since they had to comply with physical distancing rules. This caused people to find various ways to get to their places of employment or for some (like me), just went back home. I waited three hours for a bus to take me from Coastal Mall to Philcoa in QC, but can't find any. I was supposed to go to my place of work at UP Diliman to fetch as much documents as I can before I start working from home. Tried waiting for a bus at PITX but seeing the long queues outside, I decided to tell my supervisor that I can't make it because of the public transport situation, then flagged down a minibus back to my home in Cavite. Then the conductor told me that I have to wear a mask, else I would have to get off. Luckily I had one. Later when I arrived home (note: I did not pass through the supposed-to-be checkpoints to and from Cavite), I saw at the news that the government was surprised that this would happen, as if they never expected that reduced passenger capacity due to physical distancing measures would cause longer waiting times for commuters. Similar chaos for commuters later that day (now returning to their homes from work) would happen since they had to get home before the start of the stricter ECQ at midnight of March 17. This lack of foresight and preparation in implementing rules and mitigation measures, as well as the difficulties of the people would be seen a lot later during the ECQ up to this day.
• 
  2020-06-02

  The shift to GCQ: when the breaks were off and we were left on the road

  When Cebu City was downgraded to GCQ from ECQ on June 1, 2020, most businesses required their workers to report back to work. In this article, I share my personal experience on how difficult it was for a commuter like me to wade through the challenges of the lack of public transportation during a pandemic.
• 2020-04-30

  A Brighter Perspective

  A personal account of the pandemic #REL101
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  2020-04-07

  Feed Your Soul

  Reflection of having one's day slow down during the COVID-19 pandemic.