scholarly journals Covid-19 Pandemic Impacts on Essential Transit Riders: Findings from a U.S. Survey

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian He ◽  
Dana Rowangould ◽  
Alex Karner ◽  
Matthew Palm ◽  
Seth LaRue

The Covid-19 pandemic has decimated public transit service across the United States and caused significant decreases in ridership. Adapting to the pandemic has been more challenging for some transit riders than for others. Little is known about the reasons for pandemic-era mode shifts and the impacts of pandemic-related transit reductions on riders’ day-to-day lives. Using a national survey of U.S. transit riders (n=500), this study examines changes in transit use since the pandemic began, the reasons for transit reductions, and the effects of reduced transit use and transit service on transit riders’ ability to meet their travel needs. The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing transportation burdens for essential transit riders, pointing to shortcomings inherent in current transit financing policy. We close with recommendations for strengthening the transit service for these groups in the long term as we recover from the pandemic.

Author(s):  
Yuanyuan Zhang ◽  
Yuming Zhang

Car travel accounts for the largest share of transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions in the United States (U.S.), leading to serious air pollution and negative health effects; approximately 76.3% of car trips are single-occupant. To reduce the negative externalities of cars, ridesharing and public transit are advocated as cost-effective and more environmentally sustainable alternatives. A better understanding of individuals’ uses of these two transport modes and their relationship is important for transport operators and policymakers; however, it is not well understood how ridesharing use is associated with public transit use. The objective of this study is to examine the relationships between the frequency and probability of ridesharing use and the frequency of public transit use in the U.S. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression models were employed to investigate the associations between these two modes, utilizing individual-level travel frequency data from the 2017 National Household Travel Survey. The survey data report the number of times the respondent had used ridesharing and public transit in the past 30 days. The results show that, generally, a one-unit increase in public transit use is significantly positively related to a 1.2% increase in the monthly frequency of ridesharing use and a 5.7% increase in the probability of ridesharing use. Additionally, the positive relationship between ridesharing and public transit use was more pronounced for people who live in areas with a high population density or in households with fewer vehicles. These findings highlight the potential for integrating public transit and ridesharing systems to provide easier multimodal transportation, promote the use of both modes, and enhance sustainable mobility, which are beneficial for the environment and public health.


Author(s):  
Madeleine E.G. Parker ◽  
Meiqing Li ◽  
Mohamed Amine Bouzaghrane ◽  
Hassan Obeid ◽  
Drake Hayes ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Paul Schimek

Differences in automobile and public transportation use in Canada compared with that in the United States are described. In Canada public transit use is almost twice as high per capita as in the United States. Automobile use is almost 20 percent lower per capita, or about the same as the U.S. level of the 1970s. Gasoline prices, which have been about US$0.13/L (US$0.50/gal) higher in Canada than in the United States since 1984, slowed the growth in Canadian automobile ownership and driving and created a more efficient automobile fleet, resulting by the early 1990s in 40 percent less highway fuel consumption per capita compared with that in the United States. One explanation for the higher level of transit use in Canada is more compact urban densities, as evidenced by the significantly lower share of single-family detached houses. The influx of public subsidies for transit in the 1970s in both countries had different effects: a much larger increase in service in Canada and deeper fare cuts in the United States but similar increases in unit cost of service. Each new transit trip in 1992 beyond the 1970 ridership level cost about four times as much to attract in the United States as it did in Canada.


Author(s):  
Melissa A. Pierce

In countries other than the United States, the study and practice of speech-language pathology is little known or nonexistent. Recognition of professionals in the field is minimal. Speech-language pathologists in countries where speech-language pathology is a widely recognized and respected profession often seek to share their expertise in places where little support is available for individuals with communication disorders. The Peace Corps offers a unique, long-term volunteer opportunity to people with a variety of backgrounds, including speech-language pathologists. Though Peace Corps programs do not specifically focus on speech-language pathology, many are easily adapted to the profession because they support populations of people with disabilities. This article describes how the needs of local children with communication disorders are readily addressed by a Special Education Peace Corps volunteer.


Author(s):  
Federico Varese

Organized crime is spreading like a global virus as mobs take advantage of open borders to establish local franchises at will. That at least is the fear, inspired by stories of Russian mobsters in New York, Chinese triads in London, and Italian mafias throughout the West. As this book explains, the truth is more complicated. The author has spent years researching mafia groups in Italy, Russia, the United States, and China, and argues that mafiosi often find themselves abroad against their will, rather than through a strategic plan to colonize new territories. Once there, they do not always succeed in establishing themselves. The book spells out the conditions that lead to their long-term success, namely sudden market expansion that is neither exploited by local rivals nor blocked by authorities. Ultimately the inability of the state to govern economic transformations gives mafias their opportunity. In a series of matched comparisons, the book charts the attempts of the Calabrese 'Ndrangheta to move to the north of Italy, and shows how the Sicilian mafia expanded to early twentieth-century New York, but failed around the same time to find a niche in Argentina. The book explains why the Russian mafia failed to penetrate Rome but succeeded in Hungary. A pioneering chapter on China examines the challenges that triads from Taiwan and Hong Kong find in branching out to the mainland. This book is both a compelling read and a sober assessment of the risks posed by globalization and immigration for the spread of mafias.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Matthews ◽  
Madhu Pandey

Propeller planes and small engine aircraft around the United States, legally utilize leaded aviation gasoline. The purpose of this experiment was to collect suspended particulate matter from a university campus, directly below an airport’s arriving flight path’s descent line, and to analyze lead content suspended in the air. Two collection sets of three separate samples were collected on six separate days, one set in July of 2018 and the second set in January 2019.


1994 ◽  
Vol 33 (4I) ◽  
pp. 327-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard G. Lipsey

I am honoured to be invited to give this lecture before so distinguished an audience of development economists. For the last 21/2 years I have been director of a project financed by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and composed of a group of scholars from Canada, the United States, and Israel.I Our brief is to study the determinants of long term economic growth. Although our primary focus is on advanced industrial countries such as my own, some of us have come to the conclusion that there is more common ground between developed and developing countries than we might have first thought. I am, however, no expert on development economics so I must let you decide how much of what I say is applicable to economies such as your own. Today, I will discuss some of the grand themes that have arisen in my studies with our group. In the short time available, I can only allude to how these themes are rooted in our more detailed studies. In doing this, I must hasten to add that I speak for myself alone; our group has no corporate view other than the sum of our individual, and very individualistic, views.


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