Public transit use in the United States in the era of COVID-19: Transit riders’ travel behavior in the COVID-19 impact and recovery period

Parker, Madeleine E.G.; Li, Meiqing; Bouzaghrane, Mohamed Amine; Obeid, Hassan; Hayes, Drake; Frick, Karen Trapenberg; Rodrı́guez, Daniel A.; Sengupta, Raja; Walker, Joan L.; Chatman, Daniel G.

doi:10.1016/j.tranpol.2021.07.005

Cited by 156 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Subsequent academic literature refined these portraits. Telecommuting contributed to the class divide in who continued riding (3,10). Consistent with these findings, low-income riders did not reduce how often or how far they traveled by transit compared to other riders, despite the risks (10).…”

Section: Literaturesupporting

confidence: 54%

“…Telecommuting contributed to the class divide in who continued riding (3,10). Consistent with these findings, low-income riders did not reduce how often or how far they traveled by transit compared to other riders, despite the risks (10). Communities overrepresented in essential work sectors were more likely to keep riding, including Black, Indigenous, people of color, and immigrants (8,17,18).…”

Section: Literaturementioning

confidence: 68%

“…We add to a rapidly growing literature on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on public transportation (10)(11)(12). First, it allows us to follow up on a survey conducted in the early stage of the pandemic and observe how travel behaviors and attitudes have changed over a ten month period (7)(8)(9)13).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Facing the future of transit ridership: which riders bought a car; who is planning on riding less?

Palm¹,

Allen²,

Zhang³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Public transit agencies face a transformed landscape of rider demand and political support as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. We explore people’s motivations for returning to or avoiding public transit a year into the pandemic. We draw on a March 2021 follow up survey of over 1,900 people who rode transit regularly prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada, and who took part in a prior survey on the topic in May, 2020. We model how transit demand has changed due to the pandemic, and investigate how this relates to changes in automobile ownership and its desirability. We find that pre-COVID frequent transit users between the ages of 18-29, a part of the so-called “Gen Z,” and recent immigrants are more attracted to driving due to the pandemic, with the latter group more likely to have actually purchased a vehicle. Getting COVID-19 or living with someone who did is also a strong and positive predictor of buying a car and anticipating less transit use after the pandemic. Our results suggest that COVID-19 heightened the attractiveness of auto ownership among transit riders likely to eventually purchase cars anyways (immigrants, twentysomethings), at least in the North American context. We also conclude that getting COVID-19 or living with someone who did is a significant and positive predictor of having bought a car. Future research should consider how the experiencing of having COVID-19 has transformed some travelers’ views, values, and behaviour.

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Section: Literaturesupporting

confidence: 54%

Section: Literaturementioning

confidence: 68%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Facing the future of transit ridership: which riders bought a car; who is planning on riding less?

Palm¹,

Allen²,

Zhang³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…According to the findings, two factors, namely infection concern and wearing face masks, play a significant role in choosing a travel mode, followed by social distancing and cleanliness. The findings are in line with the previous studies reflecting the impacts perceived safety and concerns about being infected had on mode choice [74][75][76]. The effects of sociodemographic factors such as gender, car ownership, marital status, and job status on prioritizing pandemic-related items when selecting a mode of transportation were also studied.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Influence of COVID-19 Mobility-Restricting Policies on Individual Travel Behavior in Malaysia

et al. 2021

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The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in new postpandemic travel patterns as a result of the stay-at-home policies and restricted movement orders imposed by the Malaysian government. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in individual travel behavior after the government imposed a series of lockdowns, also known as movement control orders (MCO). From March to April 2021, a questionnaire survey was distributed throughout Malaysia, and 435 complete responses were collected. Results indicated that the respondents predominantly chose private cars for various traveling purposes during the pandemic. When choosing a travel mode during the pandemic, married respondents and essential workers placed a significantly higher priority on pandemic-related - items such as cleanliness, infection concern, social distance, and wearing face masks, compared to single respondents and nonessential workers. Binary logistic regression models were developed to estimate individuals’ propensity to make trips for different purposes, i.e., work/study, social activities, recreational activities, and religious activities. Results indicated that essential workers were nearly three times more likely than the general population to make a work trip during the pandemic. Regarding social and recreational trips, males were more likely to make such types of trips as compared to females. Furthermore, those who perceived a higher risk of infection were less likely to make social and recreational trips. Regarding religious trips, males were significantly more likely to make such trips during the pandemic as compared to females. In addition, Muslims had significantly higher odds of making a trip for religious purposes during the pandemic. The findings of this study could be useful in transportation planning when considering travel restrictions during pandemics based on peoples’ travel purposes and mode choices.

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“…Studies have shown an association between higher levels of education and higher levels of prevention [31,43,44]. Another possible explanation is that low-income individuals were more likely to use public transit for commuting for work, especially in the early stage of the pandemic [45]. Further research is needed to distinguish the variations within the low-income group and its intersections with the other individual and contextual factors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships among COVID-19 Prevention Practices, Risk Perception and Individual Characteristics: A Temporal Analysis

Wang

Chen

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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The effectiveness of public health measures in containing an infectious disease largely depends on how the general public is taking the prevention practices in daily lives. Previous studies have shown that different risk perceptions and sociodemographic characteristics may lead to vastly different prevention behaviors. This paper applies a temporal perspective in examining the changing patterns of prevention practices over time and their dynamic relationships with the perceived risk towards COVID-19 and its individual characteristics. Three key timelines (February, April, and June of 2020) were identified to represent the early, lockdown, and reopening stages of the first wave. Data were drawn from an online survey conducted in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) of Canada (n = 470). Chi-square tests and logistic regression models revealed important temporal patterns in practicing different hygienic and mobility-related prevention measures and the respondents’ risk perceptions during the three timelines. The factors predicting the level of prevention practices vary across the three timelines, based on the specific type of prevention, and within the changing public health contexts. This study contributes to the literature on COVID-19 by incorporating a temporal perspective in conceptualizing prevention predictors. It provides crucial insights for developing timely public health strategies to improve infectious disease prevention at different stages and for individuals with varying backgrounds.

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Public transit use in the United States in the era of COVID-19: Transit riders’ travel behavior in the COVID-19 impact and recovery period

Cited by 156 publications

References 41 publications

Facing the future of transit ridership: which riders bought a car; who is planning on riding less?

Facing the future of transit ridership: which riders bought a car; who is planning on riding less?

Influence of COVID-19 Mobility-Restricting Policies on Individual Travel Behavior in Malaysia

Relationships among COVID-19 Prevention Practices, Risk Perception and Individual Characteristics: A Temporal Analysis

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