Indeed, the coronavirus pandemic is also fueling a long-simmering workers’ rights movement among lower-wage workforces. “That being said, there is a silver lining, and a possibility, and a ray of hope: that people will identify with the idea that these workers deserve something more than applause.” By deeming them essential, “it lays the ground for their sacrifice,” she said. Allegations of protective equipment shortages, inconsistent testing, whistleblower retaliation, and wage theft have been levied at companies employing this workforce among gig economy workers, the public health implications of low pay and nonexistent benefits have become increasingly apparent.Īt first, it felt like the only thing unifying these workers was the danger they were put under, said Katie Wells, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University's Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. Now, with the weight of a locked-down society on their shoulders, it’s impossible to ignore their contributions - though recognition hasn’t immediately translated into labor rights and protections. And in the few parts of the world that have essentially stamped out new coronavirus infections, such as Taipei and Auckland, transit ridership is swinging back toward what it used to be.ĭelivery drivers, grocery store clerks, health care workers, and transportation operators have long been doing the essential work of keeping people fed, housed, healthy and moving, but Google search trends data show that the term “essential workers” was barely used until the start of March. In May, voters in Cincinnati approved a sales tax bump to pay for transit improvements, the first time in nearly 50 years locals had given the green light to any transit-oriented tax. The environmental and congestion-relieving effects of these systems is still clear to riders and voters, even in cities that haven’t been so reliant on transit historically. And switching to fare payment systems based on credit cards or smartphones could present a barrier to unbanked and under-banked people who, again, may be more reliant on transit than the average citizen.īut transit lovers shouldn't give up hope, for not every bus is bound to be ghosted. In heavily transit-reliant cities like New York City and London, route reductions and slower frequencies would impact people of color the most, since they are generally less likely to own cars or hold jobs that allow work from home. “If you don’t have that big load of people moving at the same time, transit becomes really expensive and not a very effective way to move people,” said Brian Taylor, a professor at the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. They could be in for a bumpy ride with service cuts and potentially more crowding if agencies can’t overcome budget shortfalls from gutted ridership. With white-collar commuters potentially continuing to work from home or picking up bikes or car keys instead, the people riding transit for the foreseeable future are likely to be poorer than the average urban resident. Photographer: Christopher Occhicone/BloombergĮven less certain is when, or whether, transit ridership is likely to return to its previous levels. It remains to be seen how these protocols will be enforced.Ī subway sits empty at the Metropolitan Avenue M station in the Queens borough of New York on April 7. Cities like New York have also ordered rider capacity limits on transit vehicles, while others such as Milan are hoping to stagger commuters over the course of the day. Several cities enacted mask requirements for passengers and did away with fares on buses so that passengers could reduce contact others, like Boston, are hastening upgrades to contactless fare payment systems to do away with hand-to-hand transactions entirely. While few cases around the world have been linked to transit thus far - Austria failed to trace a single case to a shared commute - emerging survey results suggest many riders will try to opt for other modes.ĭuring the pandemic, transit agencies around the world saw ridership decline by as much as 92% as many workers stayed home or found other ways to get to work some set up signs and cordons instructing the remaining riders where to sit and stand in order to maintain social distancing. Standing in crowded spaces for prolonged periods of time, whether on a subway platform or on a long commute by bus or train, could expose riders to the deadly disease. Coronavirus now casts that role in a troubling light. Subways and buses were the lifeblood of those urban economies. Before coronavirus, high-capacity transit systems made the basic math of dense urban populations work: It would not be possible to move through streets of cities like New York, London, Tokyo, and Mexico City if their millions of daily transit riders took to cars instead.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |