International Review of COVID-19 Transit Recovery

Key aims

To review patterns and trends in COVID-19 ridership recovery in Melbourne/Australia vs Germany, UK, Canada and USA
How have trends varied by context;? explore why
What are possible explanations for recovery differences by context?
How are service supplied changed?
How have financial needs varied and why?

Research Literature Review: review of published evidence on recovery and reasons for changes in ridership
Transit Industry Practice Review: review and discussion with transit agencies about their responses to COVID-19 and their views on causes
Ridership/Service/ Financial Data Assembly: Assembly of a range of data in a comparable form for different counties.

Ridership fell sharply in 2020 and 2021, when COVID-19 rates were highest. As a percentage of2019 levels, the lowest annual ridership for each country was 31% for Great Britain, 42% forCanada, 46% for the USA, 48% for Australia, and 64% in Germany.
The latest full year of available data (2024) indicates that Germany (94%), Great Britain (90%), and Australia (90%) recovered the highest percentages of 2019 ridership levels, compared to 83% in Canada and 77% in the USA.
Bus ridership declined less than rail ridership and recovered more fully, especially in the USA, Canada, and Australia. Our analysis of PT in five large cities finds that recovery rates were generally higher on weekends than on weekdays, both for bus and rail.
The most important government policy for PT has been a massive increase in funding, especially from central governments, to
offset the large operating budget deficits resulting from lost passenger revenue. That funding enabled PT systems to maintain or
reduce fares while avoiding large reductions in supply.
Dependable government support will be necessary in the coming years to make PT financially sustainable and to enable long-term planning for infrastructure modernization and improved service.