- People are walking, running, and bicycling more. Bike sales are way up and I've seen more people riding bikes; some of the bikes I have seen are "old school" bikes that folks dusted off to ride again as an alternative to going to the gym, or as a stress release, or because they have more time on their hands. I've seen neighbors walking and running who I've never seen before too, and often see 10-20 people during my typical 1-3 mile walk or run. Oh and the dogs! We, like many recently, adopted a dog in March, and we have seen many new walkers with many new dogs. We walk/run a total of 8-10 miles a day.
- People have changed their driving behaviors, both good and bad. Some drivers are driving "better" and others displaying "bad" driving behaviors. From my dissertation on lane-change behavior, I found that no turn signal was used by one-third of drivers when changing lanes. It seems that even fewer people are using their turn signals now. I am not sure why, but it may be due to other cognitive tasks (listening to podcasts, the news, etc. so you skip other "primary" tasks related to driving) or because most of the observations I have made are in a neighborhood, college-town setting, where turn signal use may be lower (why signal if no one is around?). I have also seen that where pedestrians are involved (especially since I usually wear a bright dayglo yellow vest or shirt), drivers are possibly more often stopping and then they wave me through, or even turn on their signal when they see me nearby waiting for them to proceed. This is a good thing. On the other hand, we have heard that emptier streets have lead to a surge in speeding, so be vigilant.
- Bike share use has been steady. For the case here for Roam NRV, operated by Gotcha Bikes, LLC in southwest Virginia, the number of bike share trips increased by 50% from April to May, even with the large majority of college students out of town, who are frequent users of the bike share system. The increase in trips is associated with fewer rainy days, later sunsets, and likely because some people are looking for an alternative form of exercise, or just an excuse to try the bikes. And trips for June 2020 were still 98% of what was seen in June of 2019. Since the very start of the COVID-19 pandemic Gotcha has stepped up their disinfecting protocols with most bikes disinfected at least every other day; on the other hand, Zagster who operated bike share in nearby Roanoke, removed their bikes and hubs altogether in June.
- Public transit is struggling. In our region, the number of bus "passenger trips" (unique times a person boards the bus) has declined to about 3% of its normal ridership across April and May. In response to COVID-19, enhanced cleaning protocols, mask-wearing by both passengers and bus operators are required or recommended, and in the case or Blacksburg Transit, the passenger limit (to support social/physical distancing) of a full-sized 40-foot bus is now only 9 passengers - on a bus that has a seating capacity of at least 40. At BT, training and hiring is continuing and Fall 2020 will be interesting, as students plan to return to Virginia Tech, with a university goal "for the typical student to experience at least one-third of instruction in an in-person format" as far as we know now.
- Wearing masks is controversial. It seems that most people 50+ are wearing them in public places if they go out; in general, some people (of any age) think they can do almost anything as long as they wear one. "Younger folks" (under 40?) don't wear them as often, and are more likely to be out in groups, standing/walking 1 or 2 feet apart. There is still a (mis) perception that younger people are less likely to get sick, and (somehow) are less likely to get others sick. "Staying home" is becoming less and less popular, due in part by a lack of federal leadership (and poor role modeling), and people simply being sick and tired of all the bad news, rising infection rates, pressures to stay home, and hey, its summer! The other challenge is the reversal on advice about masks, which in the early days indicated that mask wearing was ineffective, but that was also during the same time you could not get a mask if you tried.
- Telework is seen as "weak" or a cop-out for not being a team player. Obviously, not everyone can telework. Some people live in a 1 bedroom apartment with 2 or 3 kids, which can make it difficult if everyone is staying home. The other issue is the "old model" of having everyone in their seats at work at 8 am and back in their cars by 5:05 pm. Some companies reserve telework for IT staff or other "essential" staff that may have to log-in from off-site. There are administrative staff (like me) that sure, it would be nice to see in person a few times a week to chat, but can otherwise do their jobs from a home office quite effectively, especially relevant for jobs that are mostly on the phone or via computer (e.g., analyzing data, creating maps, writing reports). The other problem is the weak federal and state guidance during Phase 1 (and through Phase 2 and 3) for companies to encourage telework whenever possible and feasible, which is not the same as saying mandate or require telework or support telework.
I struggled with these last 2 items especially since mask wearing is not directly transportation-related (although you need one to ride buses, and for walking/running in most cases), as mask wearing is not fun for anyone, and staying home is my choice right now but seemingly becoming less popular as well - telework is an option I am grateful to be able to do, and I hope I can continue to do so. I generally have a mask with me and put it on when I see someone ahead of me before we pass. I carry one during runs too, and generally avoid others. It is also a statement to others and I figure it helps protect me a little.
As for teleworking, the easy way is to just say that everyone must be back in the office, COVID-19 be damned. I have approval to continue teleworking until August 3, at this point. Soon, I'll be gearing up for another proposal to extend that date, but I know it is just a matter of time before I will be going back to the office, at least part of the time. I am again lucky that I have my own office with a window that opens, have a computer with a camera and microphone so I can video-conference with others, and my office has door I can shut, so when I do go back there's that.
I guess we just have to live with it for the time being - or suffer or die with it.
