United States Department of Transportation
i
Impacts of COVID-19 on Public Transit Ridership
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2022-08-01
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[PDF-817.01 KB]
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Edition:Final Report
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Abstract:The impacts of COVID-19 on public transit have been substantial. The public transit agencies are facing unprecedented challenges, including operator absenteeism, a sharp decline in ridership, new disinfection practices, and the maintenance of personal protective equipment (PPE) for the safety of operators and riders. Meanwhile, public transit is critical for essential workers to commute and for citizens to access food and medical services. These challenges will continue changing and impact public transit significantly. In this paper, a national-wide study is conducted to investigate the impacts of COVID-19 on the public transit ridership in the top twenty metropolitan areas in the U.S. At first, COVID-19 composite index was developed to qualitatively measure the level of public fear toward COVID-19 in different metropolitan areas. After that, to analyze the impact of COVID-19 and some socioeconomic factors on transit ridership reduction during the COVID-19 pandemic, a random-effects panel data model was developed. In addition, correlation analysis was conducted to further analyze the impacts of the identified socioeconomic factors. According to the results of both analyses, it was found that the areas with higher median household income, a higher percentage of the population with a Bachelor’s degree or higher, a higher employment rate, and a higher percentage of the Asian population are more likely to have more reductions in public transit ridership during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other side, the areas with a higher percentage of the population in poverty, and a higher percentage of the Hispanic population are more likely to experience smaller reductions in public transit ridership. The findings of this study can help public transit agencies and local transportation planning organizations better understand the causes and patterns of changes in public transit ridership during the pandemic.
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