Fears, tension mount for working commuters
Those without option to work from home must weigh safety against affordability when deciding best way to get to their jobs
One by one, the fears creep in as Aura Morales rides the bus to her job at CVS in Los Angeles. A passenger boards without a mask but she doesn’t dare confront him. More riders board and it’s impossible to stay six feet apart. Driving to work isn’t an option; Morales can’t afford a car, especially after her work hours were cut.
“I get on the bus, I just pray,” said the 53-year-old.
As the coronavirus rages across the U.S., grocery workers, health care professionals, university staffers, cleaning crews and others who don’t have the option to work from home must weigh safety against affordability when deciding how best to commute to their jobs.
Those who can have ditched public transportation and drive to work instead, contributing to a boon in used car sales in the U.S., which spiked to their highest level on record in June, according to Edmunds.
Meanwhile, public transit agencies have seen ridership plummet, not only because of all the people opting for cars but also so many are now working from home or have lost their jobs altogether. Transit ridership fell 62 percent nationwide in the third quarter compared to last year, according to the American Public Transportation Association. Heavy rail fared even worse, dropping 72 percent in the third quarter.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency warned that without an influx of cash it would have to lay off up to 1,226 fulltime workers, or 22 percent of its workforce, and provide just 35 percent of the service it offered before the pandemic. New York’s transit agency proposed slashing subway and bus service by 40 percent, cutting commuter rail service in half and laying off nearly 9,400 positions. Washington D.C.’s transit system warned of layoffs and shorter hours as federal financial assistance dries up.
“It really is survival mode for the industry, or we’re going to see dramatic reductions in their service deliveries, which would really be counterproductive,” said Paul Skoutelas, APTA’s president and CEO. “Essential workers rely on public transit by and large, and we can’t let them down.”
In September, 71 percent of U.S. workers were commuting to physical workplaces while 29 percent were doing their jobs remotely, according to a survey of 1,015 employed adults by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Those relying on public transit have already seen schedules cut since the start of the pandemic in March, leading to packed crowds on fewer buses and trains. Mounting tensions over lax social distancing and mask-wearing as coronavirus cases spike have only made their commuting experience worse.
Hipolito Andon, 44, rides the subway to Rockefeller Center in Manhattan where he works as a porter cleaning and maintaining the building. He and his wife, who takes a bus to her school cooking job, are diabetic, increasing their risk of complications if they catch COVID-19. Andon’s son takes public transit to a porter job as well. As soon as they get home, everyone showers and changes clothes.
As the pandemic drags on, Andon sees more people boarding trains without masks.
“You hear people muttering, ‘Why is this guy not wearing a mask?’ But there’s no confrontation. People just move away,” Andon said.
Alexandra Fee chose her apartment in Arlington, Va., based on its proximity to the buses. But when the 28-year-old was confronted with returning to her job as a university academic adviser, she plunked down cash for a used car after noticing the full buses that passed by her home, sometimes skipping her stop because they had reached capacity.
“If I plan on catching a bus at a certain time and they were too full that morning, would I then have to wait a half-hour for another bus?” Fee wondered.
Traffic patterns show a growing number of commuters making the same calculation.
“What in many ways the pandemic did, in terms of automobile ownership and people’s general use of various forms of mobility, is it reaffirmed the value of owning the means of transportation, especially in times of crisis,” said Stephen Beck, founder and managing partner of cg42, a management consulting firm.