What Does Public Health Research Tell Us About the Risks of Riding Public Transit During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Abstract

UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies researchers reviewed public health literature on communicable diseases and public transit in order to understand 1) the association between traveling on public transit and the risk of infection, 2) the role of travel via public transportation in spatially spreading infectious diseases within a metropolitan region, and 3) lessons learned from transit operators’ responses to the pandemic. Simulation studies have generally projected rates of infection on public transit that are lower than many other settings, including households, workplace, schools, restaurants, and hospitals. Travel via public transit, like any other means of transportation, can facilitate the geographical propagation of a disease outbreak by moving people from one place to another where they can infect others or get infected at destination venues. Travel restrictions, or metropolitanwide lockdowns, albeit sometimes drastic, can effectively limit the spread of infectious diseases and reduce infections and deaths, as shown by various simulations as well as the experience of Chinese cities in fighting the COVID-19 outbreaks.

About the Project

The global COVID-19 pandemic has shocked many economic and social systems. One of the most profoundly affected has been the public transit systems that serve cities large and small. Ridership initially plummeted, service has been cut, and in some cases slashed, and public health concerns are many, and finances are increasingly tight on public transit systems around the globe, in the U.S., and here in California. To understand how public transit is evolving in the pandemic, UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies researchers have looked into what transit service is changing, how it is changing, why it is changing, and for whom it is changing. The project has also examined how well the changes made affect the spread of COVID-19, and how transit can continue to safely serve the mobility needs of essential workers during the pandemic.