Social Economics in Uncertain Times: — Transportation
Part Three— What do we use for transportation now? How do we get where we need to go? This series analyzes the behavior changes that our Uncertain Times have brought to our lives.
“I haven’t taken the subway in 6 months,” a friend confided. “I know it’s supposed to be cleaner, but I’m just terrified.”
In NYC and many large cities, urbanites are used to taking the subway. With a swipe of a metro card, one could get from the Financial District in Manhattan to the Bronx in an hour. If you needed to get somewhere faster, you could always call and Uber. But after lockdown, the subway suddenly became terrifying. Taking the bus became an option, but still was a huge risk.What does transportation look like now? How do people get from here to there comfortably and safely?
1) The return of Car Culture
When NYC went into lockdown, the subways went from packed at 5PM to a ghost town. At the lowest point in April 2020, subway ridership was at 10% of Pre-COVID ridership. There was a culture of fear around being in a subway car, which was underground, enclosed, and what many thought to be a vessel of high risk.
Without the subway as a viable commuting option, many decided to purchase or lease cars for dependable transportation. Others who decided to go to their families rented cars to drive across the U.S. In uncertainty, cars offered a sense of agency and stability, a way for people to control who they were in a car with, interactions with others, and the ability to travel domestically.
2) Increased fear of heights, or rather flights
The fear behind subways extended to airlines. Because airplanes are also tightly enclosed spaces where passengers could be packed densely, people were suddenly scared of flying. Overnight, airline tickets were cancelled, refunded, or rebooked. The airline industry saw huge losses and even began selling flights from NYC to Miami round trip for $24.
As of today, trepidation behind flying is still pervasive. With countries enacting travel bans across the world, airlines and tourism continue to suffer. The fear of travel also drives our WFH culture— we can’t travel, we don’t see the purpose of taking time off because we can’t go on vacation, we work more. In effect, is fear of flying driving our WFH burnout?
3) What about bikes, mopeds, alternatives?
For local transportation, biking has surged in popularity. From a Citibike naysayer in 2019, I have transformed into a Citibike aficionado in 2020. In June 2020, Citibike ridership was reported to be up 130% from Pre-COVID times. For short distances, biking seems to be a possible option for commuters.
Mopeds also saw a rise in interest. In NYC, people could rent Revel electric mopeds to travel between boroughs. Rentable mopeds were a lower investment than a full-on Harley during the pandemic. However, Revel saw 2 deaths on scooters in July 2020, which put a pause of its operations.
When one doesn’t like the options available, one can complain or make the situation better. Hence, the Choose-Your-Own Adventure options. The creatives and makers have opted for skateboarding, longboarding, or scooters. These modes of transportation allow the users to customize the boards, wheels, or even add on electric motors for balance or speed. After all, why not build your own space scooter for a better way to get around?
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