The Sales-Lentz buses serve to accommodate primary school pupils, who returned to school on 25 May after a 10-week lockdown. New measures to curb the spread of coronavirus have meant reducing class sizes and keeping cohorts separate. But with schools limited by the number of rooms available, this public international school got creative.

Sales Lentz removed the seats and replaced them with wooden desks, each separated by plexiglass screens. The teacher sits in the driver’s seat. The school will pay €17,000 to rent the buses until the end of the year. Inspired by a German initiative, each bus can accommodate up to ten pupils as well as a teacher.

The company, which will offer one school bus free of charge to the UP Foundation, also plans to deliver minibuses to nursing homes to enable socially distanced visits from family and friends.

Sales Lentz’s new niche helps to fill the losses it accrued during the weeks of lockdown--since half of the firm’s income is derived from tourism. It remains to be seen how soon that sector will pick up. Firm manager Fabrizio Romano told Paperjam in an article published on Wednesday that he expects a 75% drop in turnover in 2020, compared to 2019.