A Case Study of COVID-19 Impact on Public Transportation Ridership in Seattle — From Social Demographic Perspective

Abstract

From the beginning of 2020, the coronavirus has caused varying degrees of impact on countries around the world. Many cities all over the globe have implemented shutdown policies to curb the spread of the virus. Economic shutdowns, telecommuting, reducing outings, and maintaining social distancing have become the new normal in people's lives. However, the negative impacts are not evenly distributed among citizens; the disadvantaged groups faced more challenges according to the existing studies. The lack of stable income and serious diseases have caused a heavy negative impact on people's lives. This paper focuses on the pandemic impacts on bus ridership and people's lives in Seattle based on social demographics. The result shows that each route has experienced a sharp ridership drop. However, it tends to remain at a relatively higher level within the neighborhoods with lower income and a higher proportion of ethnic minority populations.