Will Commuter Transit Ever Recover?

Working From Home for Some Threatens Mass Transit for All

Ridership rates remain low in major U.S. cities, threatening the viability of public transit. 

While President Joe Biden pushes for $2.3 trillion in infrastructure spending with billions for mass transit, operators of commuter rail and buses are fretting over a burgeoning work-from-home culture that threatens to depress revenue for years after the pandemic.

Before the white-collar American workday became a homebound litany of video meetings with a backbeat of tumble-drying laundry, almost 12% of workers in the largest metropolitan areas were mass-transit commuters, according to the U.S. Census. Just 45% of ridership is back nationally, according to the American Public Transportation Association, even as the U.S. averages 2.2 million Covid-19 shots per day and major cities are reopening.