Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented upheaval to the worldwide transportation infrastructure and as such, has redefined trends in urban mobility. In the current research, the authors plan to compare six metropolitan areas, including Houston (Texas) and Chicago (Illinois), Singapore, Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Calgary (Canada), and Cairo (Egypt), to assess the effects of the pandemic on transit ridership during the period of 2018 to 2022. The monthly data provided by the official transit agencies was analysed using paired t-tests and correlation statistics to measure the change in the ridership and how they are related to population, urban area, and network length. The results are consistent, and the effects are a three-stage course shock, stabilization, and recovery, but as the rates of recovery are different to the governance, economic structure, and technological preparation. Digitally developed, high-income metropolises like Singapore and Dubai were a bit faster in recovery, and those that relied on cars like Chicago and Calgary showed prolonged declines. Cairo also exhibited resilience driven by necessity and did not decline because of institutional adaptation, but rather because of economic dependence. The paper suggests a three-part model of resilience, including governance, technology, and necessity, that explains these differences and how mobility systems can be changed in response to crises. These findings have both theoretical and policy implications for designing adaptive, equitable, and technology-enhanced transportation planning in the post-pandemic age.

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