Fears and tension mount for commuters still heading towork
Thosewhoworkwith public face fears as coronavirus spreads.
NEW YORK — 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 towork 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., groceryworkers, health care professionals, university staffers, cleaning crews and others who don’t have the option to work from home must weigh safety against affordabilitywhen 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 theirhighest
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% nationwide in the third quarter compared to last year, according to the American Public Trans
portation Association. Heavy rail fared evenworse, dropping 72% 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 full-time workers, or 22% of its workforce, and provide just 35% of the service it offered before the
pandemic. NewYork’s transit agency proposed slashing subway and bus service by 40%, cutting commuter rail service in laying offff nearly9,400positions. Washington D.C.’s transit system warnedof layoffffffffffffs andshorter hours as federal financial assistance dries up.
It really is survival mode for the or we’re going to see dramatic reductions in their service deliveries, which would really be counter-productive,” said Paul Skoutelas, APTA’s President and CEO. Essential workers rely on public transit by and large, andwecan’t let them down.”
In September, 71% of U.S. workers across all sectors were commuting to physical workplaces while 29% were doing their 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 heworks as aporter cleaning andmaintainingthebuilding. He and his wife, who takes a bus to her school cooking job, are diabetic, increasing their risk of complications if theycatchCOVID-19. Andon’s son takes public transit to a porter as well. As soon as they get home, everyone showersandchangesclothes.
As the pandemic has dragged on, Andon sees morepeople boarding trains without
“You hear people muttering, ‘Why is this guy not wearing amask?’ But there’s noconfrontation. People just move away,” Andon said.
Alexandra Fee chose her apartment in Arlington, Virginia based on its proximity to the buses. But when the 28-year-oldwas confronted withreturning 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 Iplanon catching a bus at a certain time 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.
Dozens of cities worldwide, including Paris and London, sawtraffiffic rebound to pre-pandemic levels in September despite the fact that many major employers were keeping their workforces at home, according to Inrix, a company that analyzes traffiffic data. In the U.S., traffiffic in smaller cities from Colorado Springs to Knoxville, Tennessee surpassed pre-pandemic levels during the morning commute. In the Seattle region, transit use was down 70% while the amount people drove was down just 20%, according to Inrix.
“What in many ways the pandemic did, in terms of automobile ownership and people’s general use of various forms of mobility, is it reaffiffirmed the value ofowning the means of transportation, especially in times of crisis,” said Stephen Beck, founder andmanaging partner of cg42, a management consulting
Parking lots are also fifilling up on weekdaymornings in parts of New York, according to SP+, which operates more than 200 parking lots in the city. Revenue fromlots near entertainment venues andhotelswas downinearly November but revenue from lots where cars arrive by 10
People wear protective masks while boarding a bus near the Fordham Metro North station in NewYork. a.m. on weekdays was up 4% to 10% compared with pre-pandemic levels, said Jeffff Eckerling, chief growth offifficer at SP+.
“Sitting here today, compared to where we were, this is great,” he said.
For themillions of others riding subways, buses and trains daily, they must set aside their fears in order to get to work.
Sule Sokoni, a porter at a co-op building on Manhattan’s UpperWest Side, positions himself onhis one-anda-half-hour subway ride so he can see who’s getting in and out, andwill switch cars if someone boards coughing orwithout amask instead of dozing offff for the long ride. He’s converting a bicycle into an electric bike so he can ride it to work instead.
Indeed, bike-sharing has become a more attractive alternative to public transit during the pandemic. Lyft sawits shared bike rides increase by 12% in Chicago this fall compared to the same time last year, and by 7% in New York.
Uber is also trying to capture wary commuters, offering van services and shared rides to employees whowork for the same company. The number of businesses using Uber’s commuting products doubled from the start of the pandemic to September, said Ronnie Gurion, global head of Uber for Business.
“More and more companies arereallylooking forand thinking about howdo I get more involved in the commute needs of my employees,” Gurion said.
Mostworkers are on their own, however, taking calculated risks.
In NewYork’s Bronx, two dozen passengers crowded together on a recent day to board a cross-town bus with nearly every seat full during the evening rush. Ridersworemasks, but once inside, many sat just inches apart from each other.
Virginia Rodriguez hung back on the sidewalk, checking smartphone to see when the next bus would arrive, hoping it would be less crowded as she headed home fromher hospital job handling insurance.
“It’s stressful in the sense that you don’t know who’s going to be next to you,” Rodriguez said. “I try tokeep my distance, and keep my mask on at all times. There’s nothing else I can do. I just hope I don’t get