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This article is part of the series — Colaba Edit.
A complex interconnectedness defines urban space. Social ties, economic relationships and networks of infrastructure shape the contours of the urban experience. In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic profoundly altered those connections, especially the way people move through cities. Public transportation agencies saw ridership fall drastically as health officials urged people to stay at home. The prevalence of remote work and the closure of stores, cultural institutions and other gathering spaces meant that people did not need transit to reach their destinations.
As the first lockdowns of spring 2020 ended and cities around the world adapted to a new normal under pandemic conditions, public transit ridership continued to lag far behind pre-pandemic levels. In some areas, this was by design. The Mumbai suburban railway, which shut down in March 2020, reopened in July exclusively for essential workers and continues a phased reopening. In other cities, low ridership persisted despite normal service. In Philadelphia, regional rail ridership in October 2020
remained at 15 percent of pre-COVID levels. In New York City, subway ridership
rose only to 30 percent of pre-pandemic levels by December 2020.
Why are enclosed public transit spaces less treacherous than other public places where the coronavirus has easily spread?
Plummeting public transit ridership is a natural response to the anxiety of contracting COVID-19 in public spaces, a fear that seems supported by omnipresent guidance to avoid crowded, enclosed public spaces during the pandemic. This anxiety does not, however, reflect several studies that show little evidence between public transit ridership and coronavirus contraction. In June, researchers at Santé Publique France found
zero coronavirus clusters linked to public transportation. Virologists in Japan
did not trace any clusters in Tokyo’s rail network, and contact tracing in Austria and Taipei
showed the same results — public transit is not a hotspot for the spread of COVID-19.
Why are enclosed public transit spaces less treacherous than other public places where the coronavirus has easily spread? To be sure, no public space — including public transit — is without risk. The studies cited above state that consistent and proper mask-wearing is the most important barrier to coronavirus transmission in public transit, as elsewhere. However, people interact with public transit in ways that alleviate the risk further. Typically, people spend less time on transit compared to time spent in an office, gym or social event (places with high numbers of coronavirus clusters). People often refrain from talking on transit, decreasing the number of respiratory particles released with each breath. Finally, public transit vehicles equipped with HVAC systems continuously filter the air within their passenger compartments and introduce fresh air into circulation. Mass transit systems in Boston, New York, and San Francisco completely replace the air in their vehicles
every five and half minutes at a minimum.
The march toward environmental sustainability may have hit a roadblock.
Despite the studies and the science, public transit ridership is likely to remain low for the years following the pandemic as new mobility habits form and old anxieties remain. Transportation professionals fear that sustained low ridership will translate to decreased public spending on transit systems, leading some networks, such as
Philadelphia’s SEPTA, towards a “doomsday scenario” in which entire city sections are left without mobility options.
Beyond less efficiently connecting parts of the city, disinvestment in public transportation will produce two further major consequences — a blow to environmental sustainability as the climate crisis poses a growing risk to cities’ resiliency, and an increase of social inequities that have already been aggravated by the pandemic.
Investments in public transit have long been a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in cities and improve urban air and water quality deteriorated by a proliferation of automobiles. This goal to improve public health and save cities from the threats of rising seas and temperatures was progressively gaining traction until COVID-19 scared people back into their private vehicles. The march toward environmental sustainability may have hit a roadblock.
If the systems are defunded in the short-term, they will not be able to rebound in a healthier economy.
Most urban denizens, however, do not have the luxury of traveling by car. A
Philadelphia study shows that most people still using public transit during the COVID-19 pandemic are low-income, often people of colour working essential jobs. In
Mumbai, unorganised sector workers are unable to access trains and risk losing their income without other transportation options.
Despite low ridership, urban societies cannot allow the disinvestment in public transportation. Transit infrastructure is too delicately intertwined with environmental and social sustainability. As cities emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, they cannot afford a setback in the struggle to build more equitable and resilient urban areas. They must make bold investment decisions now. If the systems are defunded in the short-term, they will not be able to rebound in a healthier economy. Costs to restart systems are more expensive than maintenance costs, and
transit disruptions can affect ridership levels for years. It is important to invest creatively and prioritise improvements to public transit systems that create sustainable and livable cities during the pandemic and beyond.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the interwoven nature of city systems, economies and communities.
Decisions on how to invest in this infrastructure must be tailored to the specific anxieties and needs of local populations. In
Taipei, a high-profile sanitisation drive and hundreds of newly hired employees scanning passengers' temperatures at turnstiles kept ridership fairly consistent with pre-pandemic levels. This type of visible investment in safety measures could assuage fears in passengers in cities like Philadelphia, where a perception of “unsafety” is keeping riders from returning to transit. The city of Paris added 176 kilometres of
temporary bicycle paths to provide more socially distanced transit options to residents during COVID-19. The temporary paths have since become permanent and have improved mobility for all Parisians. In a city like Mumbai, with the highest transit ridership in the world
, investing in pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure could offer new modes of transit that could alleviate vehicle and public transit congestion. In cities throughout the world, a bold proposal that would remove barriers to public transit and make a statement about its continued importance in the city is to
eliminate fares altogether.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the interwoven nature of city systems, economies and communities. As cities emerge from the health crisis, they must do so in tandem with infrastructure investments that moves the interconnected whole into a sustainable and equitable post-COVID-19 future.
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