Public Transportation in the Time of Two Pandemics

Virginia public transit systems from Northern Virginia to Hampton Roads are looking for a path forward after losing riders and revenue during the pandemic. Some transit systems have been harder hit than others.

In London, Piccadilly Circus station is nearly empty on a weekday morning, while in Delhi, the Metro ferries fewer than half of the riders it used to. In Rio, bus drivers are on strike, and in New York City, subway traffic is at just a third of normal volume.

Facing the worst pandemic in at least a century, transit agencies throughout Virginia and the nation are struggling to balance the needs of their riders, the safety of their operators, and the implications of the coronavirus for their finances.

Just days after GRTC announced the second death of an employee due to COVID-19, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry opened an investigation looking into a complaint that the transit company is not adequately enforcing health safety regulations.

John E. Thrower, Jr. 49, a driver known for his bright smile and pleasant attitude, succumbed at a local hospital to the coronavirus Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020, after a five-week battle.

Dear Colleagues, Friends, and Allies,

Amidst these tumultuous times of global pandemic and national trauma caused by an epidemic of police violence, state-sanctioned lynching, and unjust incarceration of Black people, we hope that you are safe, healthy, and finding ways to recharge.

While trying to get to work over the past few months, Brittany Williams, a Seattle home care worker, has often been passed by two or three buses before one stops to let her board.

On October 12, 1918, Maggie Walker was interrupted from her work with a call from the governor.

Walker had a full plate. She was the first African American woman to charter a bank, and a leader in Richmond’s Black community.

Governor Westmoreland Davis needed Walker’s help. The influenza pandemic was ravaging Richmond, with the Richmond Times-Dispatch reporting 549 deaths by the end of that month.

From The Future of America’s Past—
Governors nationwide have moved to reopen their states, even as the coronavirus crisis continues to grow. This impulse has a precedent: it’s what many towns, including Richmond, Virginia, did during the 1918 flu — a global health crisis that killed more than 50 million people worldwide, and more Americans than all 20th- and 21st-century wars combined.

In a detailed look at the history of Richmond, Benjamin Campbell examines the contradictions and crises that have formed the city over more than four centuries. Campbell argues that the community of metropolitan Richmond is engaged in a decisive spiritual battle in the coming decade.