Public transportation

 Decline In Public Transportation use

Covid-19 drastically impacted the use of public transportation. Due to the sheer fact of people being terrified of coming in contact with the deadly virus or even spreading it caused the use of public transportation to drop. In an article called, “COVID-19 Has Been 'Apocalyptic' for Public Transit. Will Congress Offer More Help?” It talks about how passengers don't feel safe riding public transportation anymore because not every passenger follows regulations such as keeping a six foot distance or wearing a mask correctly. It also talks about how some of the bus drivers don't follow the capacity limits and have crowded busses. In the same article it was also stated that many passengers with children were afraid of taking public transportation because they didn't want to expose their children to the deadly virus.It was recorded in Washington DC Metro-rail the decrease of bus ridership was down 75% and the Metropolitan Transit in San Antonio, Texas decreased by 30% by the end of march 2020. In LA the use of public transportation also saw a huge decrease from 370 million rides a year before the covid-19 pandemic to 213 million rides a year during the covid-19 pandemic.





How has Covid-19 affected people’s use of public transportation in their daily lives?


Covid-19 has impacted many people in their daily lives because due to capacity regulations many passengers had to wait for 2 or 3 more busses than usual. For example in the article, “COVID-19 Has Been 'Apocalyptic' for Public Transit. Will Congress Offer More Help?” It talks about how change of capacity regulations affected passengers' lives by causing them to be late for work or to any destination. Covid-19 also led to more private cars on the road. This affected passengers' lives because the ones that relied on public transportation found it harder to use public transportation during the pandemic. This led to many people buying cars because it made it more efficient for them to get from point A to point B. One good thing that came from the Covid-19 pandemic is that in most states public transportation became free to ride compared to people having to pay a fare before the covid-19 pandemic.





The future of public transportation


Due to the many ways the covid-19 pandemic affected the use of public transportation many people have thought of ways to improve public transportation for future pandemics. In the article, “COVID-19 changed public transportation. Here’s how.” It talks about a new concept called Futurebus. The Futurebus would have the whole side of the bus open instead of just exiting and entering from one singular door. This allows for passengers to enter with more distance from one another. Something else they look to change is contactless paying and stopping in a certain location. Compared to how today we have to click a button to request a stop it will all be accessible through a mobile app. This is all to avoid being in contact with things in the bus during a pandemic that is easily spread. Things that will also change to be better prepared for a future pandemic would be real time crowd information. This would basically let the passengers know how many people are on the bus before they decide to ride. It can also allow the passenger to choose which bus they would like to take and if they would skip one or two buses.





















Bibliography

“Transportation, Coronavirus and Covid-19.” UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, 2 Nov. 2021, https://www.its.ucla.edu/for-the-press/transportation-coronavirus-covid19/. 

Liu, Luyu, et al. “The Impacts of Covid-19 Pandemic on Public Transit Demand in the United States.” PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0242476. 

Stabley, Justin, and Vignesh Ramachandran. “Covid-19 Changed Public Transportation. Here's How.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 10 June 2021, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/public-transit-post-pandemic. 

Garza, Alejandro de la. “Covid-19 Has Been 'Apocalyptic' for Public Transit.” Time, Time, 21 July 2020, https://time.com/5869375/public-transit-coronavirus-covid/. 

“A Post-Pandemic Reality Check for Transit Boosters.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-06/a-post-pandemic-reality-check-for-transit-boosters. 

Venkat, Nisha. “Covid Has Gutted Public Transit in Los Angeles. Will Ridership Ever Bounce Back?” KCRW, KCRW, 4 Aug. 2021, https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/greater-la/public-transit-dining-housing/covid-metro-ridership-cars. 


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