Assessing Spatial Equity of Public Transit Demand amid COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak has brought up challenges in numerous aspects of everyday life that require revisiting both the concepts and policies that are supposed to help adjust to the new situation. In this sense, public transit systems have undergone many changes while adapting to the new situation. Stay at home orders or avoid using public transportation was encouraged to help avoid the disease’s spread. It is important to note that pandemic does not treat everyone in the same way, and preventive orders may not apply to the transit-dependent population. In Jefferson County, Kentucky, the public transit system (bus) made bus routes and bus routes after the pandemic. The question is who is impacted by the pandemic and the limitations of using public transportation as it is the convenient mode of transportation for many transit-dependent populations. This study assessed the bus ridership before the pandemic, during the orders, and after the lockdown to help understand bus ridership variation across 580 TAZs in Jefferson County, Kentucky. It will also examine the route coverage in Jefferson County at the TAZ level to examine the areas that will low route coverage after the adjustments and its relation to the income.