There have been thousands of COVID mutations, most of inconsequential severity, but as current vaccines face the spread of resistant South African and Brazilian strains, there are genuine questions of how many new resistant strains will develop when under the most optimistic expectations. Well over half the world will neither have vaccine nor disease recovery immunity even into 2022. How it will impact mass transportation? Will air and sea carriers eventually face a requirement that their passengers be both tested and vaccinated? The industry is resisting any additional barriers to travelers, but common sense suggests an obvious necessity.
Quarantines, testing and contact tracing remain essential, even as the United States is woefully behind the rest of the developed world and much of the developing world in implementing these programs. There is still a very large pool of Americans who still do not wear masks, still do not practice social distancing and still believe that the pandemic is either a hoax or vastly overblown. They argue, without a shred of legal substance, that they have “constitutional rights” to ignore what they see as intrusive COVID protocols.
Since testing and contact tracing in the United States are still only sporadically applied, how exactly do you ascertain the effectiveness of our inoculation program? Oh, you don’t. Given the above “ignore reality” attitude combined with ineffective government actions to date, other countries are still loath to open their borders to American travelers without severe requirements and restrictions… if at all. Americans, that bastion of global tourism for so long, simply are not welcome in so many nations. President Biden has ordered vast new emphasis on testing in addition to the mass inoculation efforts.
Still, domestic public transportation faces even more challenges in our most basic urban mass transit systems, busses and city rail services (above and below ground). In 2019, we were just beginning to reverse a trend of sinking public ridership, when the pandemic crushed local transportation systems. Kicking the economy back in gear while addressing obvious climate change issues create the combined challenge facing President Biden and his newly confirmed Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg.
This is far more than moving the average automobile into the electric (or fuel cell) alternative universe. Electricity still has to be generated and stored even for these more efficient vehicles. There are benefits, of course. “[R]eplacing private car rides with bus or train trips (or biking, or walking) would reduce the largest share of the average person’s carbon footprint. If one driver per American household switched to public transportation for their daily commute (for trips that are 10 miles each way), they’d save more than 4,500 pounds of carbon dioxide per year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.” Kristin Toussaint writing for the February 11th FastCompany.com.
As Buttigieg indicated in his February 8th Axios interview, the DOT is going to shift more toward mass vs micro transportation issues. And buried into that reality is the subtext of racial equality. “‘A remarkably large percentage of bus riders are essential workers, and everyone else on the bus has no other way to get around,’ says Danny Pearlstein of transit advocacy group Riders Alliance… Those bus riders also tend to be lower-income and are more likely to be minorities and immigrants—a trend that is true across the country, which is why functioning mass transit is crucial to racial and social equity. Better transit is also necessary to reach our climate goals; replacing private car rides with bus or train trips (or biking, or walking) would reduce the largest share of the average person’s carbon footprint. If one driver per American household switched to public transportation for their daily commute (for trips that are 10 miles each way), they’d save more than 4,500 pounds of carbon dioxide per year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.” Toussaint.
This pandemic has seriously slammed state and local governments’ financial ability to upgrade and implement transportation systems, but the good news is the level of bipartisan interest to fix deferred infrastructure needs. This is one of those rare GOP-Dem intersections of policy, where investment decisions – those that produce measurable increases in productivity – also happen to overlap with job creation goals. Federal support for big city solutions – like implementing congestion pricing for private vehicles operating and parking in crowded downtown venues – are less expensive solutions. But there are some immediate steps that must take place.
“The first thing mass transit needs from the Biden administration is simple: money. The American Public Transportation Association has requested an additional $39.3 billion in COVID-19 relief as a top priority. ‘The emergency relief is so critical, so fundamental to keeping the agencies stabilized, addressing their budget issues, and really being able to continue to operate essential services that workers are counting on,’ says the association’s president and CEO, Paul P. Skoutelas.
“That amount would help keep transit agencies afloat through 2023—a necessary timeline since transit ridership won’t come back quickly or immediately, Pearlstein notes, especially as we’re still grappling with the pandemic. ‘Even with the vaccine, this will still be the largest ever fiscal crisis for transit for years to come,’ he says.
“Though President Biden’s proposed American Rescue Plan included $20 billion for the transit industry, the first draft of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, released February 8, gives $30 billion to transit agencies. The American Rescue Plan clarified only that the money would go to the ‘hardest hit transit agencies;’ it’s not yet clear how those funds will be divided across the country.
“Beyond COVID-19-specific relief, though, the Biden administration should forge a new, ongoing partnership between the federal government and transit agencies, Pearlstein says. ‘Historically, the federal government has provided some support for capital improvements in transit,’ he says, ‘but what we need now is more of what we’ve seen for the past year, which is a federal role in operating support to keep buses and trains running for essential workers, for people who are transit-dependent, and as we build back tourism.’” Toussaint.
Aside from recovering from the pandemic, this nation has a unique opportunity to build our country into the more modern and efficient production economic powerhouse it really should be. Some actually believe that there are new areas for potential growth after we recover. I noted this little piece in the February 11th BBC.com: “United Airlines plans to buy 200 flying electric taxis that it hopes will fly passengers to the airport within the next five years.” I had to smile. Yes we can!
I’m Peter Dekom, and rebuilding this nation to serve the best efforts of the vast majority of America should also rebuild a new and invigorated economic success story.
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