A new report released in October by nonprofit Air Alliance Houston shows the need for reliable and well-funded public transportation in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Presented at the Oct. 28 Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County board of directors meeting, the COVID and Public Transit in the Houston Region report was a collaboration between Air Alliance Houston, advocacy group LINK Houston and the Robert D. Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice.
The presentation showed 67% of fixed-route transit trips were taken on buses before the pandemic hit in early 2020. The study found that even though COVID-19 caused an estimated 40% decrease in public transportation use due to fear of the virus, a significant number of essential workers continued to rely on METRO’s transit system to get to their jobs as their only source of transportation.
“We know that people use transit for a variety of trips,” said Ines Sigel, interim executive director for LINK Houston. [Read more.]