Public transit is one of the most important aspects of sustainable communities, providing benefits such as reduced traffic congestion, carbon emissions, and air pollution. It also provides safe, equitable, and economical mobility options for many to access essential services, employment, recreation, and community resources. The COVID-19 pandemic led to stay-at-home orders and widespread shifts to remote work and learning. Coupled with a fear of potential viral transmission in enclosed public transit vehicles shared with strangers, ridership levels in public transit dropped dramatically. For example, Vancouver’s TransLink experienced an overall 52% decline in ridership levels from 2019 to 2020 system-wide, while TTC in Toronto saw a 57.2% decline overall from 2019-2020. A decline in ridership meant transit authorities lost a major source of revenue for operating costs. Public surveys in the US and New Zealand revealed that users believed public transit to be extremely unsafe during the pandemic, with a significant proportion of former users indicating that they will not ride as often as before or will not return to public transit at all.

As a result, many former transit users shifted to using private vehicles for utilitarian and recreational purposes. Some major cities implemented improved and expanded bicycle lanes to encourage people to take up cycling as an alternative to public transit. Meanwhile, those who could not afford to own and operate private vehicles or could not reach their destinations by walking or on bicycles, especially low-wage earners, essential service workers, and vulnerable populations continued to use transit. In the Greater Vancouver region, the transit authority reported that as of April 2021, transit ridership remained steady at 40% of pre-pandemic levels, while vehicle traffic on inter-municipality bridges rose to 90% of pre-pandemic levels despite continued COVID-19 restrictions. A survey in Germany found that during the lockdown period, respondents reported a change in attitude toward favouring private cars over public transit.

These shifts in travel behaviour are alarming as they affect the sustainability of public transit systems and have enormous detrimental long-term environmental and climate change impacts as private vehicle use increases. As vaccination rates rise and cities and regions gradually transition out of pandemic restrictions, public transit authorities around the world have been grappling with developing strategies to restore public confidence in the safety of public transit spaces to increase ridership. These riders not only include former customers, but also new riders to replace those who may have shifted permanently to a remote work or learning model.

Risk of viral transmission in confined public transit spaces

To better understand how to make public transit vehicles safe and to lessen the perceived risk of viral transmission, the research and epidemiological evidence on the transmission routes and the actual transmission risks in enclosed public transit spaces need to be examined.

Past studies on influenza, SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV in air transport, ground transport, and sea transport showed that transmission has occurred in enclosed transit spaces. Similar to SARS-CoV-2, transmission of these viruses is associated with seating proximity to the index case and duration spent in the same space. It is important to note that transmission of influenza, SARS-CoV, and MERs-CoV may differ from SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

Two SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks were documented in China in 2020, as summarized in Table 1.

Table 1. Documented SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks in bus environments

These documented outbreaks in China occurred in the early days of the pandemic when lockdowns and transmission control measures were not yet in place. As the pandemic progressed, public transit agencies in major cities around the world quickly implemented measures to reduce transmission in response to the pandemic. In Italy, a study was conducted to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in the air and on environmental surfaces of a busy trolley bus line after transmission interventions were implemented near the end of the country-wide lockdown. These interventions include reduced capacity, physical distancing, hand hygiene, mandatory face masks, increased ventilation, and frequent cleaning and disinfecting. Approximately 1,100 passengers rode the bus during the study period. No SARS-CoV-2 RNA was found in any of the air or surface samples. Although the infectivity and disease status of passengers could not be tested, the researchers estimated about 37 infected and asymptomatic people may have rode the bus during the study period.

A study in Spain did find traces of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in samples from environmental surfaces, air, and air conditioning filters on buses and trains prior to cleaning and treatment with ozone. While detection of viral RNA does not imply infectivity, the findings indicate that the virus was once present on surfaces and in the air of buses and trains. This further reinforces the importance of control measures to minimize the transmission risks. Numerous studies have shown that appropriate transmission interventions are effective in limiting SARS-CoV-2 transmission in public transit settings. A modeling study of airborne viral infection risk on trains determined that the use of surgical masks and increased ventilation of carriages effectively reduced the risk of disease transmission.

Apart from the outbreaks in China, the epidemiological evidence linking public transit settings to COVID-19 cases is limited. A review of studies found that there is a low risk of COVID-19 infection from using public transportation, and this risk is further reduced with the implementation of control measures. Data analysis in several cities found that community transmission and COVID-19 case counts do not appear to be correlated with transit ridership levels. Additionally, several factors may influence the low risk of transmission in transit settings when control measures are in place. These include increased ventilation through open windows and doors, limited conversations, short trip durations, and awareness of being in confined spaces, which encourages riders to spread out. While there may be challenges with tracing COVID-19 cases attributed to travel mode and public transit, it appears that cases are more frequently linked to settings other than public transit spaces. A study in China examining the attack rate in 3,410 close contacts of 391 index COVID-19 cases found that the attack rate was much higher through household contacts (82.7%) than in public transportation settings (0.8%).

Selected strategies for post-pandemic public transit improvements and recovery

Given that there is limited evidence linking SARS-CoV-2 transmission to enclosed public transit spaces, there is an immediate need for public transit authorities to consider innovative strategies to restore public confidence in order to increase ridership as cities transition out of pandemic restrictions. This is an opportunity to improve public transit systems to not only bring back former riders, but entice new customers to strengthen the multifaceted benefits of public transit in communities. Simultaneously, these strategies will help to bolster the resiliency and preparedness of public transit systems for future crises.

The following suggested strategies were selected from the literature based on feasibility and relative ease of implementation for short- and mid-term ridership recovery benefits.

Implement appropriate disease transmission interventions

While some transmission interventions may differ depending on the type of public transit mode, several measures can be applied together including physical distancing, crowd control, ventilation, hand hygiene, face coverings, physical barriers, and air and surface disinfection. As SARS-CoV-2 is primarily spread via droplets and aerosols, and secondarily spread via environmental surfaces, interventions that reduce exposure to droplets and aerosols of others should be prioritized. Physical modifications or reconfigurations in transit facilities to reduce crowding and promote proper behaviour, such as floor markings, signage, and one-way passages may also be considered. Increasing service frequency or adding train carriages allows for greater physical distancing within the enclosed spaces.

Active and transparent communication and outreach

Public health authorities and transit agencies should consider leading the development of media campaigns that communicate the low risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in transit vehicles via multiple media channels. This includes visual communications about the control measures implemented to minimize potential risks and enforcement measures. Information should be evidence-based, customer-centred, and readily available via multiple communication channels such as social media, e-mail, online chat, telephone, or instant message apps. While public transit agencies have taken measures to ensure safe facilities, it is important that the public shares the same perception to restore their trust. To improve visibility of cleanliness and safety measures, some cities have begun performing sanitation and hygiene practices in trains and stations in the public instead of at maintenance depots. Signage to encourage compliance or to remind riders about safer behaviours could also contribute to the restoration of trust in the system. The American Public Transportation Association has put together a toolkit of sample communication materials that may be used by public transit agencies.

Consider new technology to minimize crowding

Fare boxes, ticketing booths, and vending machines can be bottlenecks that can cause crowding. Electronic, contact-less, or online fare collection encourages physical distancing at these locations and provides convenience for riders. New technology can also provide real-time train and bus arrival times and capacity levels, allowing riders to monitor crowding, so they may decide whether to board the train or bus, or to wait for the next arrival.

Improve travel times with pop-up bus lanes or bus priority lanes

Temporary pop-up bus lanes or permanent priority bus lanes help to improve efficiency, frequency, and capacity. Combined with ridership analyses that determine routes and times of day with highest demand, this strategy may help reduce crowding on buses. Improving convenience and enhancing efficiency would also help entice customers to choose public transit over private vehicles.

Create connections with active transportation and shared mobility

During the pandemic, active transportation modes such as cycling and walking grew exponentially as people shied away from public transit. As such, many cities created temporary or permanent bike lanes or limited car access to certain roads to encourage cycling, while others invested in pedestrian infrastructure to reduce crowding and promote walking. Active transportation investments not only improve urban mobility, but influence healthy living and health outcomes. Initiatives such as building bicycle facilities at transit stations or creating accessible and pedestrian-friendly connections between train stations and bus stops or depots may encourage the continuity of active transportation beyond the pandemic. Implementing bicycle-share, scooter-share, or car-share programs that are unified with transit payment systems complement public transit services and increases mobility options, and thereby can encourage transit use.

Financial incentives

As part of the transmission control measures at the beginning of the pandemic, many public transit systems opted for rear-door entry and temporarily halted fare collection to protect transit drivers and reduce crowding at fare collection points. As part of the ridership recovery strategies, financial incentives to provide comprehensive or targeted fare reductions for certain populations or groups may attract former and new customers to return to transit. Partnering with local organizations to bundle transit fare into fees for programs, services, or events when they resume may also increase ridership. Working with employers to provide discounted annual transit passes to employees, or working with governments to allow annual transit passes to be tax deductible may also contribute to ridership recovery efforts.

Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic brought tremendous challenges upon public transit agencies and public health authorities to quickly develop guidance in an effort to control SARS-CoV-2 transmission in communities. While it may seem that decades of work to promote public transit as an essential aspect of healthy communities, healthy living, and climate resiliency have been undermined by the pandemic, ridership recovery is possible with the right tools and strategies. Further work is necessary to uncover the gaps in long-term pandemic and crises preparedness in public transit systems, and to develop strategies to improve their resiliency. Public transit is part of the solution to bring society back to new norms in the post-pandemic era. Understanding and adapting to passengers’ needs, preferences, and travel behaviours will be crucial to achieving this goal.

Additional Resources: 

Public transit and COVID-19

Citation

Chen T. Transitioning from COVID-19 restrictions to new norms: Innovating strategies to restore trust and transit ridership [blog]. Vancouver, BC: National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health; 2021 June 11. Available from: https://ncceh.ca/content/blog/transitioning-covid-19-restrictions-new-norms-innovating-strategies-restore-trust-and.