Transit and coronavirus: a policy primer, and some suggestions for riders

On April 6, Yolobus and Sacramento Regional Transit's jointly-operated Causeway Connection bus route will start serving UC Davis Medical Center, where medical workers are treating the first person to catch the Coronavirus through suspected community transmission in the U.S. (Photo courtesy of UC Davis)

The covid-19 outbreak has struck Italy and South Korea, two places that mean a lot to me, with full force. The two hard-hit countries have made groundbreaking strides in mobility – Seoul’s rail and bus networks made me a transit advocate; while Italy, the land of my ancestry, pioneered a balanced mix of public and private sector high-speed rail operation, a model that France and the U.S. are set to emulate.

The coronavirus is now bearing down on Northern California, where I grew up. As the region organizes to control the epidemic, its expanding transit system must show the world how to best employ mobility as a life-saving tool against the outbreak.  

As the situation develops, the Sacramento area’s Regional Transit and Yolobus are preparing to launch the jointly operated Causeway Connection, an electrified, limited-stop bus line linking the UC Davis campus with the university’s East Sacramento medical center, on April 6. While not perfect – the buses will fight U.S. 50 and Interstate 80 traffic congestion – the new line will fill some key gaps in the region’s transit system:

• The new Connection, which replaces a private shuttle that was only open to university affiliates, will provide the first one-seat public transit ride between the campus – the origin or destination of 90 percent of trips on Davis’s local Unitrans bus system – and the bustling medical center.
• As for general Davis-Sacramento connectivity, the only two existing all-day, bi-directional transit routes are Yolobus’s hourly Route 42, which makes closely spaced stops and time-consuming deviations, and Amtrak’s Capitol Corridor train, which charges fares four times that of the bus.   

The hospital’s prominence in Northern California healthcare makes it a good location for a transit terminal. However, that prominence also has delivered the first person in the U.S. to catch the coronavirus through suspected community transmission to the facility.

As UC Davis doctors strive to treat the seriously ill patient, we can consider two perspectives on the role of the Causeway Connection’s in the Sacramento region’s efforts to fight the virus:

• During a potential pandemic situation, transit links to medical facilities are particularly important. Such links give people from all walks of life access to care while also making sure health workers can reliably get to the facilities and treat their patients.
• However, some may fear that improved bus connectivity to the hospital will cause Sacramento’s transit system to hasten coronavirus’s spread, potentially encouraging some individuals to advocate not just against the new route, but for larger-scale regional cuts to service.

***

Mobility has been an integral component of coronavirus’s story, starting with its rapid spread at the Huanan Seafood Market situated less than a mile from Wuhan, China’s train station. During the virus’s subsequent international spread, we’ve seen authorities adhere to a mix of the two potential Sacramento perspectives described above.

And thus far, the mobility-oriented approach appears to be more effective in combating the virus.  

China both cut off access to and shut down local transit within Wuhan and surrounding Hubei Province, Japan quarantined the Diamond Princess cruise ship, and Italy locked down a number of small towns that saw a sudden spike in known coronavirus cases. However, cases continued skyrocketing within the isolated areas, uncertainty arose around reported infection rates, and medical experts questioned the strategy’s effectiveness. Officials of places like New York City, where municipal leaders have floated virus mitigation strategies intended to “limit or stagger” public transit ridership, should consider these sobering results before taking any drastic action.

In contrast, jurisdictions including South Korea, Milan (the nearest big city to the aforementioned small Italian towns), and Japan (the Diamond Princess ship notwithstanding) have sustained mobility and access for citizens. These places have combated the coronavirus through other means, such as diligent disinfecting of transit vehicles and public spaces, curtailing of large public gatherings, and aggressive testing of people who may have been exposed. This approach has helped people needing diagnoses or care obtain it without upending daily routines or causing panic and flight resembling the frantic final hours before the Wuhan lockdown.

Workers disinfect a subway station in Seoul. (Photo courtesy of  Yonhap/AFP, via Rappler)

The economic fallout of coronavirus’s spread, however, poses a threat to that sustained access that could continue long after the outbreak eases up.

Transit systems in the most significantly affected areas are already experiencing stunted farebox recovery. Seoul’s subway, for example, saw a 15 percent year-over-year ridership decline in late January and early February (even before the Shincheonji Church outbreak in Daegu came to light) – worse than what DC’s Metro experienced during its 2016-17 SafeTrack maintenance blitz that led to severe service disruptions – while Milan’s trams and subways have operated noticeably emptier than usual.      

In addition to this immediate fiscal challenge, should markets’ now-weeklong crash continue transit providers – especially U.S. agencies with their notoriously constrained budgets – will become susceptible to a repeat of what they faced during the 2008 recession: state and local funds drying up as consumers penny-pinch and revenue from taxes falls. Should transit agencies have to turn to service cuts to address such a funding crisis, as they did in the late-2000s, the usual bad actors could stoke peoples’ virus fears to exacerbate the extent of those cuts. It would take decades for systems and their riders to recover.

Thus, it’s more important than ever for both federal and local leaders to ensure plans to protect and expand our transit service are in place. Nationally, Congress must use this year’s surface transportation reauthorization to increase transit-dedicated federal funding and allow transit providers to use some of that funding to operate service. Localities, meanwhile, should take steps such as encouraging transit-oriented land use and restructuring transit agencies’ boards to better represent riders.       

  

A passenger wears a medical mask on a Milan tram. (Photo courtesy of BNN Bloomberg)

While Seoul Metro's ridership decline is attributable largely to people simply not going out as much, especially for non-work purposes, Yonhap News reported that some citizens who normally ride the subway have switched to taxis or private cars due to fears that they’ll contract the virus on a train.

But car-based transportation, though it renders people irrational, will not protect people from coronavirus.

For example, the virus spread at a party for taxi drivers in Tokyo, while at least 240 Mexico City Uber customers (why would anyone take Uber in Mexico City?) faced possible exposure after riding with drivers who had transported an infected person. Furthermore, anyone in an automobile is exposed to the century-long pandemic of traffic violence; perpetuates a sedentary, stressful habit associated with dangerous underlying health conditions that can make coronavirus more lethal; and contributes to air pollution that exacerbates those underlying conditions not just for themselves, but for everyone.

That said, while people can contract coronavirus anywhere (my only bout of pneumonia to date, for example, was part of a viral outbreak at my auto-dependent elementary school), shared transportation vehicles and stations are one place disease transmission can occur. Thus, riders should take steps to minimize their chances of contracting or spreading illness during their transit trips.

Unwanted germs can accumulate on handholds; while I think holding on is still the safest choice for standing bus riders, if no seats are available on a train I’ve found that standing facing the side of the railcar – feet a little more than shoulder width apart – is a comfortable and safe way to travel hands-free. Do keep a handhold in sight in case the train slows or speeds up suddenly, and be particularly vigilant when arriving at a station because train operators sometimes need to adjust to align with the platform, leading to an unexpected lurch. (Speaking of which, this would be as good a time as any for the DC area's WMATA to re-introduce Automatic Train Operation.)

People who aren’t feeling well should get treatment for their illnesses and should be welcome to use transit to access that treatment. However, they should strive to take care of themselves without spreading any diseases by donning medical masks properly, coughing into their elbows and, if possible, choosing a seat that’s not right next to another rider.

For people who want their own space, active options like walking and biking are also a good bet. Not only do these options reduce the possibility of close contact with others, but pedestrians and cyclists also enjoy a healthy lifestyle that make them more resilient to coronavirus or any other disease out there.

And should misguided authorities decide to lock down the area you’re in, these active options may become the only way to get around – and, if necessary, out of – a quarantine zone.

***

Even as coronavirus spreads through the places that shaped me, the illness has yet to substantially affect my current life.

DC’s trains and buses teem with riders, almost all of them mask-free, while the region’s leaders debate both increases to late-night rail service (good) and cuts to bus service (bad). And as I write this piece, I’m on Amtrak’s Palmetto from Savannah, GA back to the nation’s capital; we left an hour late because a new locomotive had to be added to the train, people donning Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders gear ride together, and despite Acela-riding Joe Biden’s win yesterday I can’t get a café car Stone IPA in South Carolina due to the theocratic state's Sunday blue laws. This is after I missed the last Chatham Area Transit bus from Savannah’s warehouse-surrounded station into town on Friday evening by 15 minutes, thanks to CSX freight traffic.

But I’m prepared for virus-caused changes that would render these situations trivial. Transit agencies, and the elected officials responsible for their funding and governance, need to be prepared too.

Yolobus and Sacramento RT, in launching and operating the Causeway Connection, have an opportunity to lead the way.