Houston Bus Ridership Highlights Socioeconomic Disparities in COVID-19 Outcomes

Increasing evidence suggests that socioeconomic disadvantages have contributed to disproportionate COVID-19 outcomes, but the connections supporting this relationship remain unclear. This research uses bus ridership to investigate the relationship between human mobility, socioeconomic status, and COVID-19 outcomes. A linear regression analysis compared total bus route ridership and the percent of workers using public transportation with the median household income, percent of essential workers, and COVID-19 prevalence for each zip code. Higher pre-pandemic ridership was associated with higher COVID-19 prevalence in April 2020 among zip codes of similar socioeconomic status. These findings suggest that the increased likelihood of disadvantaged populations to use public transportation may be associated with disproportionate COVID-19 outcomes. Bus ridership, when considered with other factors, may improve accuracy when identifying vulnerable populations to more effectively allocate general public health resources. These findings also suggest the importance of further research in the efficacy of public health interventions specific to public transportation.