The Public Chamber of Russia (PCR) has applied to the Operational headquarters with the request to develop a unified approach to the introduction of QR codes on transport. This was reported by Ilya Zotov, a member of the chamber and the chairman of the All-Russian Association of Passengers, the correspondent of Made in Russia reports.

The government of the Russian Federation has sent to the State Duma a package of bills on introduction of mandatory QR-codes with information on vaccination for travelling on transport and in public places starting from February 1 until June 1, 2022. These documents, according to the bill, will be required to show to persons over 18 years old while visiting any public events, cultural institutions, nonfood shops and catering facilities. It is also proposed to oblige people to show a QR code or a medical certificate of vaccination when buying airplane or train tickets.

According to Zotov, at the present stage the initiative of appliance of QR codes in organization of air and train transport causes concerns of citizens and representatives of industries.

"Citizens have reacted extremely negatively, the measures are still quite in the raw. There is no financial and economic substantiation. The measure is recognized to vaccinate more citizens, but there are much more motivation mechanisms and they are less costly", - he said.

AVIATION SECTOR

Zotov pointed out that the fears of the aviation industry are more related to the requirement to introduce QR codes when booking tickets.

"We have to understand that there will be a multiple decrease in bookings. If this is introduced in the aviation industry at the stage of purchasing a ticket, the industry will lose a huge amount, because the early booking will be reduced many times. We discussed it with the State Duma Committee on Tourism and the expert community has confirmed that our citizens book their holidays in advance, including for the summer period. We are against the requirement to require a code when buying a ticket", - he said and explained that a person, who, for example, plans to get vaccinated in February, won't be able to buy tickets in March.

In addition, the requirement will put Russian carriers in less favorable conditions, he said.

"Foreign reservation systems will not conduct authorization through the portal of public services, and, consequently, we will be in different working conditions. Because Russian airlines will require authorization through the public services, download the certificate. In other words, everyone will be in different conditions, and this is wrong," assured Zotov.

According to him, a better solution would be to set the deadline for downloading the certificate a few hours before the flight and require it to be presented at the gate. "Not even at the stage of check-in, baggage drop-off, because someone checked in online, someone is flying without baggage - but at the gate. So that everyone is on an equal footing," he said.

RAILWAY COMMUNICATION

In the field of railway transportation, the introduction of QR codes also raises many concerns, Zotov stressed. "If we are talking about the railway transport, it is not quite clear who will check the codes at the stations, where the train stops for 2-3 minutes and several passengers enter. One can ask for a code when buying a ticket, but it's impossible to double-check whether the code was loaded," he said.

The expert reminded that many people in the restaurants of France used the QR code of President Emmanuel Macron. "Here it is the same story - any code can be downloaded, and then the sense of these measures is not clear, if the system will be so easily subject to errors or lack of verification. So we are asking for these points to be set up at train stations at platform exits. But in no way at train boarding because it cannot be done," the association head said.

A SINGLE APPROACH

Zotov noted that the OP has already asked the operational headquarters to develop a unified approach to the introduction of such measures. "So that the regions do not foster chaos, but act on the basis of a unified methodology for decision-making at transport facilities. And it is important that these decisions should be agreed with the expert community, with the public, and budgetary risks should be taken into account", - he said.

The public figure added that it is necessary to work out other measures to protect the population and to do it systematically, so that decisions would not cause dissonance.

"There are many less costly mechanisms to increase the number of vaccinated citizens. Other modes of transport have not yet been affected, but the government's measures are illogical in terms of the fact that about 10 billion citizens travel by public transport, where there is a high probability of catching the virus. If we are talking about air travel, that's just under 100 million people a year. The numbers are not comparable," he concluded.

Made in Russia // Made in Russia

Author: Maria Buzanakova