Analysis of cell phone location tracking data shows changes in how Californians have moved around since the pandemic.
How have the mobility patterns of California changed since March 2020 due to the pandemic? Mobile phone location data can help to answer this question. As reported by Phillip Reese, Google has compiled large amounts of cell phone location tracking data as part of its ongoing effort to help leaders around the world to gauge the impact of COVID-related closures and travel restrictions. Collected from phones with location trackers enabled, the mobility logs show patterns of trip frequency—available at national, state and regional levels—in daily snapshots from early 2020 through early March 2021. The baseline for comparison in terms of trip frequency is the first five weeks of 2020, before California and the United States initiated broad COVID-related restrictions.
Some of the key findings of this analysis are:
- In the early weeks of 2021, Californians are staying home way more than we did in our pre-pandemic life.
- Californians are using cars rather than resuming pre-COVID commute patterns on public transit, i.e. buses and trains, which is a trend with troubling implications for transit services and the environment should it become long-standing.
- As of early March 2021, travel for retail and restaurants was back to 26% below the baseline, while grocery and pharmacy trips were 11% below.
- Work-related travel showed the most sustained disruption, at 33% below the baseline.
- Californians are heading out to shop, dine, and work far more now than in March 2020, when the state issued its first sweeping stay-at-home order.
Please read the source article for more details, including informative graphs and maps.
FULL STORY: How COVID-19 Has Changed Movement in the Nation's Most Populous State
What Is the Future for Transit After COVID? - A Debate
Critic Randal O'Toole and advocate Todd Litman debate how communities should plan for public transit in the post pandemic future. Should it contract or expand?
Most Questions About the Long-Term Impact of the Pandemic Still Unanswered
Planetizen started gathering articles attempting to predict the post-pandemic future in March 2020. The work goes on, with many questions left still to be answered.
Haves and Have Nots: Planning and the Deep Divides of the Pandemic
The latest in a series of compendia gathering news and analysis about the effects of the COVID-19 on the built and natural environments—now and long into the future.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association