Sustainable mobility in auto-dominated Metro Boston: Challenges and opportunities post-COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted society as we knew it in a variety of ways, with especially severe impacts on low-income households. Even before COVID-19, Metro Boston was witnessing a rise in private car ownership and decreasing mass transit ridership, further exacerbated by a historical spatia...
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| Format: | Article |
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Elsevier BV
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/132928 |
| _version_ | 1826206747769962496 |
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| author | Basu, Rounaq Ferreira, Joseph |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning Basu, Rounaq Ferreira, Joseph |
| author_sort | Basu, Rounaq |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted society as we knew it in a variety of ways, with especially severe impacts on low-income households. Even before COVID-19, Metro Boston was witnessing a rise in private car ownership and decreasing mass transit ridership, further exacerbated by a historical spatial mismatch that made low-income commuters relatively more dependent on mass transit. Accounts of overcrowded buses and trains since early March have heightened psychological dread among regular transit commuters, some of whom have already purchased a private car or intend to do so within the next year. Uncertainty around transit service frequency and erosion of trust in the MBTA are the primary challenges for rebuilding transit rider confidence, which is likely to be a long and slow process. Low transit ridership levels can lead to fiscal challenges on the horizon and consequent service cuts, which necessitate the need for adopting a multi-modal approach to affordable and sustainable urban mobility. A narrow window is available to discourage a further shift to cars that will further cannibalize transit. Given the diversity of mobility services available in Metro Boston, designing a MaaS pilot with close attention to technological integration and cost salience can be crucial in showcasing the value of multi-modal and cross-modal accessibility. Such programs must be synergistic with concurrent transit service improvements and car-commute disincentives, such as in-town parking charges and road-use charges, without impeding access to affordable mobility for low-income and essential workers. Looking at the various agile policy responses of several cities in Metro Boston over the last few months, we are cautiously optimistic that sustainable mobility will become a major theme in urban and regional mobility policies in the post-COVID recovery period. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:37:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/132928 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:37:37Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Elsevier BV |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1329282023-02-17T05:07:41Z Sustainable mobility in auto-dominated Metro Boston: Challenges and opportunities post-COVID-19 Basu, Rounaq Ferreira, Joseph Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted society as we knew it in a variety of ways, with especially severe impacts on low-income households. Even before COVID-19, Metro Boston was witnessing a rise in private car ownership and decreasing mass transit ridership, further exacerbated by a historical spatial mismatch that made low-income commuters relatively more dependent on mass transit. Accounts of overcrowded buses and trains since early March have heightened psychological dread among regular transit commuters, some of whom have already purchased a private car or intend to do so within the next year. Uncertainty around transit service frequency and erosion of trust in the MBTA are the primary challenges for rebuilding transit rider confidence, which is likely to be a long and slow process. Low transit ridership levels can lead to fiscal challenges on the horizon and consequent service cuts, which necessitate the need for adopting a multi-modal approach to affordable and sustainable urban mobility. A narrow window is available to discourage a further shift to cars that will further cannibalize transit. Given the diversity of mobility services available in Metro Boston, designing a MaaS pilot with close attention to technological integration and cost salience can be crucial in showcasing the value of multi-modal and cross-modal accessibility. Such programs must be synergistic with concurrent transit service improvements and car-commute disincentives, such as in-town parking charges and road-use charges, without impeding access to affordable mobility for low-income and essential workers. Looking at the various agile policy responses of several cities in Metro Boston over the last few months, we are cautiously optimistic that sustainable mobility will become a major theme in urban and regional mobility policies in the post-COVID recovery period. 2021-10-12T16:38:29Z 2021-10-12T16:38:29Z 2021-02 2020-12 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0967-070X https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/132928 Basu, Rounaq and Joseph Ferreira. "Sustainable mobility in auto-dominated Metro Boston: Challenges and opportunities post-COVID-19." Transport Policy 103 (March 2021): 197-210. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2021.01.006 Transport Policy Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ application/pdf Elsevier BV Prof. Ferreira |
| spellingShingle | Basu, Rounaq Ferreira, Joseph Sustainable mobility in auto-dominated Metro Boston: Challenges and opportunities post-COVID-19 |
| title | Sustainable mobility in auto-dominated Metro Boston: Challenges and opportunities post-COVID-19 |
| title_full | Sustainable mobility in auto-dominated Metro Boston: Challenges and opportunities post-COVID-19 |
| title_fullStr | Sustainable mobility in auto-dominated Metro Boston: Challenges and opportunities post-COVID-19 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sustainable mobility in auto-dominated Metro Boston: Challenges and opportunities post-COVID-19 |
| title_short | Sustainable mobility in auto-dominated Metro Boston: Challenges and opportunities post-COVID-19 |
| title_sort | sustainable mobility in auto dominated metro boston challenges and opportunities post covid 19 |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/132928 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT basurounaq sustainablemobilityinautodominatedmetrobostonchallengesandopportunitiespostcovid19 AT ferreirajoseph sustainablemobilityinautodominatedmetrobostonchallengesandopportunitiespostcovid19 |