The SMART Connect shuttle, pictured after a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, June 16, 2023, will carry riders from the station to the Sonoma County Airport. (Provided by SMART)
Across urban and suburban America, public transit has been hard hit by the unanticipated consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Until the 2020 lockdown, the idea of remotely working from home was just a theoretical concept as a carbon-free means for commuters to avoid the tedious drill of traveling to jobs in central city high-rises.
Now it’s accepted among those employed in technology, finances, law and insurance that they’ll indefinitely work remotely two or three days each week. Tech-heavy San Francisco is ground zero for this new normal.
While devastating urban city centers, the shift wrecked the finances of transit providers whose principal purpose is moving commuters…
