By Rachel Wu
As a student whose memories of buses entail being packed against 50 other children, it’s definitely odd for me to visualize the largely empty buses now caused by the COVID-19pandemic. Indeed, the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) reports that ridership has dropped about 80 percent across all forms of public transportation as people rightfully shelter in place. This isn’t surprising considering that what makes public transportation so space-efficient now runs contrary to distancing guidelines.
While the VTA continues to operate for healthcare workers, grocery store employees, restaurant staff, and other essential workers, in a sense, we are all dependent on transit to receive essential services. As ridership drops and funding sources are drying up, service may have to becut by 20 percent amid the VTA’s severe financial crisis. If necessary transit routes are decimated, essential workers will be unable to go to work safely, especially since cars are driving faster on empty roads, making walking and biking more dangerous.
Public transportation investment will be crucial in the aftermath of COVID-19. If MHSeven partially reopens in the fall, at least some portion of the student population will have to ride the bus to go to school. Without more investment, it will be extremely difficult to provide regularly sanitized buses and ensure that students can social distance while riding the bus. Also, many people will no longer have the financial means to own and maintain a car or even purchase a bike, increasing the demand for reliable public transportation to connect students and citizens to jobs, education, and opportunities.
In fact, the University of Utah’s Metropolitan Research Center finds that public transportation projects also creates and maintains 31 percent more jobs per dollar compared to investments in highways, which is critical as we approach a major recession. This is because public transit jobs seek more diverse skills as they require operation and maintenance, and more money is directed towards wages and construction because less is spent on acquiring land and equipment.
There are a number of ways to ensure that public transportation is prioritized correctly in post-COVID-19 economic recovery plans to not only keep transit afloat but utilize it to its greatest potential. I encourage the VTA to deprioritize highway expansion (from Measure B) for the time being in order to continue providing essential transit services, deep cleaning, and Personal Protective Equipment to transit operators. The VTA should also seek further opportunities to reduce the exorbitant cost of the BART Phase II project; it’s not worth risking bankruptcy for this single project, especially since it could derail the rest of the VTA’s crucial transit projects. Decision-makers ought to consider eliminating the redundant segment between Diridon and Santa Clara already covered by Caltrain, reducing the amount of tunneling, and utilizing station designs without mezzanines.
Even more crucially, the massive reduction in car traffic during this pandemic can allow cities to use road space more creatively. Implementing dedicated bus lanes and bus rapid transit systems will improve travel times, increase access to jobs, and make roads safer. This also increases ridership and improves the experience of the growing transit-dependent population. In response to the surge in walking and cycling, quality investments in bicycle boulevards, strategic low-speed zones, and protected bicycle lanes can significantly reduce the rate and severity of road crashes as well. Although the pandemic decimated ridership in the short term, investment in public transportation is needed to both serve the growing number of transit-dependent citizens and aid in economic recovery
