NEW YORK, United States (AP) — One by one, the fears creep in as Aura Morales rides the bus to her job at CVS in Los Angeles. A passenger boards without a mask but she doesn’t dare confront him. More riders board and it’s impossible to stay six feet apart. Driving to work isn’t an option; Morales can’t afford a car, especially after her work hours were cut.

“I get on the bus, I just pray,” said the 53-year-old.

As the novel coronavirus rages across the US, grocery workers, health care professionals, university staffers, cleaning crews and others, who don’t have the option to work from home, must weigh safety against affordability when deciding how best to commute to their jobs.

Those who can have ditched public transportation and drive to work instead, contributing to a boon in used car sales in the US, which spiked to their highest level on record in June, according to Edmunds.

Meanwhile, public transit agencies have seen ridership plummet, not only because of all the people opting for cars but also the fact that so many are now working from home or have lost their jobs altogether. Transit ridership fell 62 per cent nationwide in the third quarter compared to last year, according to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). Heavy rail fared even worse, dropping 72 per cent in the third quarter.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency warned that without an influx of cash it would have to lay off up to 1,226 full-time workers, or 22 per cent of its workforce, and provide just 35 per cent of the service it offered before the pandemic. New York’s transit agency proposed slashing subway and bus service by 40 per cent, cutting commuter rail service in half and laying off nearly 9,400 positions. Washington DC’s transit system warned of layoffs and shorter hours as federal financial assistance dries up.

“It really is survival mode for the industry, or we’re going to see dramatic reductions in their service deliveries, which would really be counterproductive,” said Paul Skoutelas, APTA’s president and CEO. “Essential workers rely on public transit by and large, and we can’t let them down.”

In September, 71 per cent of US workers across all sectors were commuting to physical workplaces while 29 per cent were doing their jobs remotely, according to a survey of 1,015 employed adults by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Those relying on public transit have already seen schedules cut since the start of the pandemic in March, leading to packed crowds on fewer buses and trains. Mounting tensions over lax social distancing and mask-wearing as novel coronavirus cases spike have only made their commuting experience worse.

Dozens of cities worldwide, including Paris and London, saw traffic rebound to pre-pandemic levels in September despite the fact that many major employers were keeping their workforces at home, according to Inrix, a company that analyses traffic data. In the US, traffic in smaller cities from Colorado Springs to Knoxville, Tennessee surpassed pre-pandemic levels during the morning commute. In the Seattle region, transit use was down 70 per cent, while the amount people drove was down just 20 per cent , according to Inrix.

“What in many ways the pandemic did, in terms of automobile ownership and people’s general use of various forms of mobility, is it reaffirmed the value of owning the means of transportation, especially in times of crisis,” said Stephen Beck, founder and managing partner of cg42, a management consulting firm.