Editorial: Spotlight on mass transit
Public transportation gets a prominent place on the growing list of things that have changed — maybe forever — because of the COVID pandemic. It will take foresight and creative thinking to make the best of the changes as we head into what we hope is the post-pandemic era.
Before COVID, the commonwealth and local communities including Hampton Roads had invested considerable money and effort into expanding mass transit opportunities and encouraging people to become riders rather than drivers. There are obvious reasons to promote public transit: the more people who take the bus, the train or light rail, the fewer cars clog the highways, tunnels and parking lots in a repetitive cycle that creates a need for yet more highways, tunnels and parking lots.
As more people leave their cars at home and use mass transit, fewer vehicles are polluting our air and releasing carbon dioxide and other emissions that fuel climate change.
High gas prices, such as what we’re dealing with now, make it good for the pocketbook to use public transit.
But when coronavirus hit in March 2020, people, understandably, became leery of public transportation. As more people were allowed to work from home and telecommute, the demand dropped even more. With fewer riders, some service was cut
Norfolk’s The TIDE light rail, the first system of its kind in Virginia, reported ridership for August 2019 as 119,334. When the system marked its 10th anniversary in August 2021, the figure for August was 56,728. Overall, Hampton Roads Transit, with its light rail, buses and ferries, reported early this year that ridership was down about 62% from January 2019.
As the winter surge of COVID receded and people cautiously tried to get back to a more normal life, ridership has been growing slowly. It’s still way below what it was before the pandemic.
There are lots of unknowns. How many more coronavirus variants will appear? How many workplaces will adopt hybrid work arrangements rather than requiring in-office work five days a week?
With the help of a $247,500 federal COVID grant, the state is joining with local agencies in a PR campaign called “Rediscover Your Ride” to encourage people to return to public transit, citing improved sanitation and safety features. The state has also come up with a recovery handbook designed to help local systems move forward.
Moving forward will take money as well as messaging, and Virginia’s Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine recently announced that the new federal infrastructure and jobs act includes $232,426,060 for transit systems in the commonwealth.
Federal grants, many COVID related, have been vital in keeping transit systems going while ridership was down. Whether sufficient federal and state money will keep coming is another one of the unknowns transit systems face.
In Richmond and other cities across the country, COVID disruptions have led to a new way of thinking about some public transit. Richmond adopted a no-fare policy early in the pandemic mostly to keep drivers safer by having passengers enter by the rear door. When ridership on local routes increased, officials realized they were dealing with people who’d been classified as essential workers, many of them in low-paying jobs at places such as hospitals, grocery stores and warehouses.
The pandemic made it evident that many low-income city residents depend heavily on buses. Not having to pay a fare has not only allowed people to continue working; it has made it easier for them to get to medical appointments, grocery stores and other places they need to go.
Evidence that free bus service can improve lives has led to a broader national discussion about whether public transit must be something that largely pays for itself, or whether it should be a government-funded service that helps the community, especially its poorest residents.
That and other new ways of thinking about mass transit could turn out to be one of the pandemic’s silver linings. COVID has focused a spotlight on public transportation. Let’s make the most of it.
