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Transportation

4 Ways Transit Can Lure Back Post-Covid Commuters

As U.S. cities fully reopen, new long-term travel habits are being formed now. Here’s how public transportation can better compete for riders. 

San Francisco commuters board a bus in the Salesforce Transit Center on June 9. 

San Francisco commuters board a bus in the Salesforce Transit Center on June 9. 

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

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In the U.S., public transit ridership normally slumps in the summertime. With school out of session and many regular passengers taking vacations, it’s not a time when transit agencies normally launch big campaigns to attract riders. But this year, the slow season will be crucial.

After 15 months in which many daily trips to workplaces, retailers and schools were stopped cold by the coronavirus pandemic, Americans are finally poised to venture back out. How many of them will choose transit?