Transportation planning hits a roadblock in the post-COVID world

Taking the 22 bus or CalTrain used to be a simple, safe choice. But coronavirus has hammered mass transit ridership and put trillions of investment at risk. Karen Philbrick reports for Fox and Hounds.

Today, more than ever, we have countless choices when it comes to daily travel, with some opting for the personal automobile and others choosing to remain carless—instead using public transport, app-based ride hailing services such as Uber and Lyft, personal mobility devices, and of course active transport such as walking and cycling.

“But other major modes of transportation have also played an undeniable role in American transportation. Commercial air travel boomed in the 1950s, and in 2019 US airlines carried 925.5 million passengers to global destinations. Similarly, public transportation has been a staple of American transportation for many decades, allowing the transport of large numbers of people efficiently and sustainably. In 2018 alone, public transit riders traveled 5.8 billion passenger miles (this is roughly the equivalent of traveling from San Francisco to New York City 1.9 million times or from the Earth to the sun sixty-two times).

“The pandemic forced numerous changes on Americans, giving rise to a new normal, with the state of transportation shifting dramatically. For example, the US Department of Transportation reported that in May of 2020 travel on all roads dropped by 25.5 percent compared to May of 2019. In the San Francisco Bay Area, that figure was closer to 50 percent. Nationwide, airline travel plummeted by as much as 97 percent and transit ridership was down over 90 percent. According to nonpartisan “fact tank” the Pew Research Center, nine out of ten Americans say the coronavirus has impacted their lives in some way and 44 percent say in a major way.

“Despite increases in project costs, Californians still have hope for HSR networks with younger generations offering much of that support. Thus, even amid a global pandemic, the construction of California HSR is underway. The California High-Speed Rail Authority has thirty active construction sites spanning 119 miles in five counties. The first completed phase of California High-Speed Rail (CAHSR) will connect six of the ten largest cities in the state and pave the way for a way to unclog our roadways, improve the health of people and the planet, create jobs, and help secure a long-term transportation future for California and the nation.

“Transportation touches us all, and we are on the precipice of change. We are witnessing innovation and opportunity as previously unseen technological developments, such as artificial intelligence and autonomy, converge, raising these questions: What will the future of transportation look like? Will we return to pre-COVID-19 patterns or will we opt to continue with a new normal?