Ride Sharing Attitudes Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States

Abstract

We explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed individuals’ attitudes and perceptions toward sharing rides. In 2019, the year before the pandemic, we had implemented an online survey to understand US travelers’ attitudes and perceptions of modes, including transit and pooled ride-hailing. During the pandemic, in May 2020, we redistributed a portion of that survey to the same respondents. We compare the distributions of responses from before and during the pandemic and test the significance of these shifts. We found that while people’s dislike of sharing rides with strangers has not changed compared with before the pandemic, their willingness to share to save money has significantly changed. Also, more people are not OK with crowded buses and try to use modes that allow them to avoid others.