01 May 2020

Medium article on Covid-19, transit, and traffic

Yue Hu, Will Barbour, and Dan Work co-author article on potential traffic impacts of transit reluctance in Covid-19 era

Yue Hu, Will Barbour, and Prof. Work performed an analysis on how vehicle travel times could increase if transit riders switch modes and drive instead, due to Covid-19 concerns. The analysis was performed across all major US metro areas and showed large susceptibility in transit-heavy cities – modest mode switch from transit to personal vehicles could increase all road users’ travel times by 5-10 minutes each way.

While very small travel time increases (e.g., less than 5 minutes one-way) may not seem concerning, this could equate to hundreds of thousands of additional hours spent in traffic each day. It certainly highlights the importance of transit in major cities to keep vehicle volumes at manageable levels.

Read the article here on Medium.