When the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, no one was sure what congregate activities were safe. In order to protect themselves and stop the spread, many people who had flexibility in when and how they get around avoided using mass transit systems. Three long years later, transit ridership still has not recovered in major U.S. transit systems, creating a fiscal cliff for systems that are reliant on fare revenue to fund operations and leading to questions about how to structure a viable future for American transit.
Authors
- Acknowledgements and disclosures
- The authors thank Adie Tomer and Yonah Freemark for their insightful reviews of earlier drafts of this report. Any errors that remain are solely those of the authors.Tracy Hadden Loh currently serves as a principal director on the board of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, a voluntary position in which she represents Washington, D.C. via appointment by the Council of the District of Columbia. The recommendations of this report are solely those of the authors written in their capacity as employees of the Brookings Institution, and do not represent policy or opinions of the WMATA board of directors or staff.
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- United States of America
