Public transport operator CFL saw its cleaning costs treble as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, rising from €54,000 to €173,000 for bus maintenance alone.
The cost of cleaning CFL's trains increased too as a result of the pandemic, although the difference was less extreme. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, CFL spent around 4 million euros per year on cleaning train carriages. This amount increased by half a million euros in 2020 and 2021 due to enhanced sanitary measures and the use of larger amounts of disinfectant, according to Minister of Mobility Yuriko Backes
Backes, in her response to a parliamentary question submitted by the Pirates, said that in principle, CFL bus seats are vacuumed every fortnight, in addition to regular cleanliness checks and the emptying of rubbish bins. Every six months, the buses are cleaned with specialist extraction equipment.
As for railway transport, train interiors are examined on a daily basis and cleaned if necessary. Depending on the passenger numbers, seats are systematically vacuumed every week or every fortnight, and undergo a thorough cleaning five times a year. Other contact points are cleaned as often as possible, at least once daily, for trains making longer stops in Luxembourg City between 6am and midnight.
