Getting Back on the Bus and Back to Work

The briefing examines the impact of the pandemic on public transit, emphasizing that while ridership has fallen, the system remains essential for emissions reduction and frontline workers. It argues that the crisis provides an opportunity to modernize transit through data science, shift from timetable-based planning to trip-based models, and prioritize dedicated bus lanes over a sole focus on electrification to challenge the dominance of single-occupancy vehicles.

• Public transit is critical for urban efficiency and emissions reduction, as cities lack the capacity to absorb the 10 billion annual trips currently handled by transit if riders return to personal automobiles.
• The pandemic demonstrated that transit agencies can be adaptable, shifting to a 'war room approach' to prioritize essential routes for frontline workers, which reveals an opportunity to better align transit routes with actual employee mobility needs.
• To 'build back better,' transit agencies should move away from rigid timetable constructs toward data-driven, multimodal models that utilize artificial intelligence and anonymized movement data from mobility-as-a-service and micro-mobility providers.
• Decarbonizing transportation requires a 'systems thinking' approach where operational efficiency—specifically dedicated bus lanes—is prioritized alongside or before wholesale electrification to challenge the hierarchy of single-occupancy vehicles.
• Federal financial support is necessary to bridge revenue gaps caused by the pandemic, including a stimulus plan to inject $25 billion into transit to cover operational shortfalls.

APA

RMI (2020). Getting Back on the Bus and Back to Work. https://rmi.org/resources/getting-back-on-the-bus-and-back-to-work/

Chicago

RMI. Getting Back on the Bus and Back to Work. 2020. https://rmi.org/resources/getting-back-on-the-bus-and-back-to-work/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Getting Back on the Bus and Back to Work |date=19 May 2020 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/getting-back-on-the-bus-and-back-to-work/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2020getting, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Getting Back on the Bus and Back to Work}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2020}, month = may, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/getting-back-on-the-bus-and-back-to-work/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }