The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped much of modern life — but perhaps no economic sector has been impacted more than transportation.

Automobile traffic volumes plummeted as the pandemic hit, with car crashes declining along with them and people around the world taking photos of the unusually clear skies. Amtrak has also seen declines in passenger volumes of more than 90 percent, and passenger numbers on US airlines fell more than 96 percent year-over-year in mid-April. And while some in the industry hope people will quickly hop back on planes by the end of the year and the global tourism industry will return to normal, the data we have suggests that’s very unlikely.

Naturally, people are beginning to wonder what a post-pandemic transportation system will look like, and that will play out on two levels: what will happen within cities, and how people will move between them. The debate over whether the automobile will return to its throne or will finally get displaced by bikes and transit is ongoing, but in this piece, I’ll address the latter question: With air travel effectively halted, where do we go from here?