COVID-19 has shocked every system in the U.S., including transportation. In the first months of the pandemic, driving and transit use fell far below normal levels. Yet people still need to travel for essential purposes like medical appointments, buying groceries, and—for those who cannot work from home—to work. For some, the pandemic may exacerbate extant travel challenges as transit agencies reduce service hours and frequency. As travelers reevaluate modal options, it remains unclear how one mode—ride-hailing—fits into the transportation landscape during COVID-19. In particular, how does the number of ride-hail trips vary across neighborhood characteristics before versus during the pandemic? And how do patterns of essential trips pre-pandemic compare with those during COVID-19? To answer these questions, we analyzed aggregated Uber trip data before and during the first two months of the COVID-19 pandemic across four regions in California. We find that during these first months, ride-hail trips fell at levels commensurate with transit (82%), while trips serving identified essential destinations fell by less (62%). Changes in ride-hail use were unevenly distributed across neighborhoods, with higher-income areas and those with more transit commuters and higher shares of zero-car households showing steeper declines in the number of trips made during the pandemic. Conversely, neighborhoods with more older (aged 45+) residents, and a greater proportion of Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Asian residents still appear to rely more on ride-hail during the pandemic compared with other neighborhoods. These findings further underscore the need for cities to invest in robust and redundant transportation systems to create a resilient mobility network.

COVID-19 震惊了美国的每一个系统，包括交通。在大流行的头几个月，驾驶和公交使用率远低于正常水平。然而，人们仍然需要出于基本目的出行，例如就诊、购买杂货，以及（对于那些无法在家工作的人）工作。对一些人来说，随着过境机构减少服务时间和频率，大流行可能会加剧现有的旅行挑战。随着旅行者重新评估模式选项，尚不清楚一种模式（叫车）如何适应 COVID-19 期间的交通环境。特别是，在大流行之前和期间，网约车出行的次数如何因社区特征而异？大流行前的基本旅行模式与 COVID-19 期间的模式相比如何？要回答这些问题，我们分析了加州四个地区在 COVID-19 大流行之前和头两个月期间汇总的 Uber 行程数据。我们发现，在最初的几个月中，网约车出行的下降幅度与公共交通 (82%) 相当，而服务于确定的重要目的地的出行下降幅度较小 (62%)。网约车使用的变化在社区之间分布不均，收入较高的地区、过境通勤者较多的地区以及零汽车家庭比例较高的地区在大流行期间的出行次数下降幅度更大。相反，与其他社区相比，在大流行期间，拥有更多年长（45 岁以上）居民以及更大比例的黑人、西班牙裔/拉丁裔和亚裔居民的社区似乎仍然更依赖网约车服务。