Covid-19 pandemic still taking a toll on public transport worldwide

SINGAPORE – More than 40 per cent of people around the world have cut back on public transport rides, with 8.5 per cent staying away completely since the Covid-19 pandemic started nearly a year ago.

In a survey done last month, Israeli mobility app provider Moovit found that of those who still needed to get around, 4.6 per cent have switched to other modes of transport.

The firm found that the frequency of public transport usage did not change for 38 per cent of people. Another 7.6 per cent of respondents said their bus and train usage had actually gone up since the pandemic started.

Moovit said it polled “tens of thousands” of respondents in more than 100 cities across 28 countries; and pointed out that “at the lowest point in 2020, many cities around the world experienced more than an 80 per cent drop in public transportation ridership”.

For Singapore, the December survey revealed the aversion to public transport was less severe. More than half of respondents said their usage had not changed since the pandemic, with another 8.2 per cent saying their trips had actually risen.

Less than 2 per cent of those polled said they were still staying away from buses and trains, while just over 30 per cent said they were using them less frequently.

Only 1.4 per cent said they had switched to other modes of transport. This could be because this alternative is costly in relation to other parts of the world.

Moovit also surveyed commuters on what it would take for them to return to using public transport. Of nearly a dozen measures, two had the highest votes. One, having real-time arrival information so that waiting at crowded bus-stops can be avoided. Two, increasing service frequency so vehicles can be less packed.

In Singapore, these two measures were also the top picks. Surprisingly, 28.5 per cent in Singapore also said having contactless payment would also persuade them to go back to buses and trains.

Singapore University of Social Sciences transport economist Walter Theseira said he found the survey results “hard to take seriously” with respect to contactless payment and real-time information – both of which are available in Singapore.

But the point about increasing service frequency to reduce crowdedness “is interesting”, he said, adding it is something commuters would like to have whether there is a pandemic or not.

“The problem is system cost,” he said. “Public transit’s economies of scale only work with high system utilisation – the crowded buses basically pay for the empty buses.

“The constraint on lowering crowdedness during peak hours is the staggering cost of building extra capacity that is only used for the peak of the peak.”

This goal can however be achieved if travel demand is spread out throughout the day, he added.

But Moovit chief growth and marketing officer Yovav Meydad said some cities have done exactly that. These include the Italian cities of Milan, Naples and Rome.

Prof Theseira pointed out that “most people have no problem being in crowded environments voluntarily once they perceive that the Covid-19 risk is manageable – the crowds at shopping malls are daily evidence of that”.