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      COVID-19 and Transport: Findings from a World-wide Expert Survey

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          Abstract

          Impacts of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the transport sector and the corresponding policy measures are becoming widely investigated. Considering the various uncertainties and unknowns about this virus and its impacts (especially long-term impacts), it is critical to understand opinions and suggestions from experts within the transport sector and related planning fields. To date, however, there is no study that fills this gap in a comprehensive way. This paper is an executive summary of the findings of the WCTRS COVID-19 Taskforce expert survey conducted worldwide between the end of April and late May 2020, obtaining 284 valid answers. The experts include those in the field of transport and other relevant disciplines, keeping good balances between geographic regions, types of workplaces, and working durations. Based on extensive analyses of the survey results, this paper first reveals the realities of lockdowns, restrictions of out-of-home activities and other physical distancing requirements, as well as modal shifts. Experts’ agreements and disagreements to the structural questions about changes in lifestyles and society are then discussed. Analysis results revealed that our human society was not well prepared for the current pandemic, reaffirming the importance of risk communication. Geographical differences of modal shifts are further identified, especially related to active transport and car dependence. Improved sustainability and resilience are expected in the future but should be supported by effective behavioral intervention measures. Finally, policy implications of the findings are discussed, together with important future research issues.

          Highlights

          • Findings are derived from a worldwide expert survey implemented in April-May, 2020.

          • Guidelines and contingency plans were reported by only about 30% of experts.

          • Remarkable modal shifts away from public transport usage were reported.

          • Developing countries were equally active in taking measures as developed countries.

          • Various long-term changes in lifestyles and society were revealed.

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          Most cited references71

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          The effect of COVID-19 and subsequent social distancing on travel behavior

          The spread of the COVID-19 virus has resulted in unprecedented measures restricting travel and activity participation in many countries. Social distancing, i.e., reducing interactions between individuals in order to slow down the spread of the virus, has become the new norm. In this viewpoint I will discuss the potential implications of social distancing on daily travel patterns. Avoiding social contact might completely change the number and types of out-of-home activities people perform, and how people reach these activities. It can be expected that the demand for travel will reduce and that people will travel less by public transport. Social distancing might negatively affect subjective well-being and health status, as it might result in social isolation and limited physical activity. As a result, walking and cycling, recreationally or utilitarian, can be important ways to maintain satisfactory levels of health and well-being. Policymakers and planners should consequently try to encourage active travel, while public transport operators should focus on creating ways to safely use public transport.
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            How COVID-19 and the Dutch ‘intelligent lockdown’ change activities, work and travel behaviour: Evidence from longitudinal data in the Netherlands

            COVID-19 has massively affected the lives of people all over the world. This paper presents first insights in current and potential future effects of the virus and the Dutch government's ‘intelligent lockdown’ on people's activities and travel behaviour. Findings are based on a representative sample of about 2500 respondents from the Netherlands Mobility Panel (MPN). We show that approximately 80% of people reduced their activities outdoors, with a stronger decrease for older people. 44% of workers started or increased the amount of hours working from home and 30% have more remote meetings. Most of these workers report positive experiences. Students and school pupils, however, are mostly not happy with following education from home. Furthermore, the amount of trips and distance travelled dropped by 55% and 68% respectively when compared to the fall of 2019. So-called ‘roundtrips’ (e.g. a walking or cycling tour) gained in popularity. People are currently more positive towards the car and far more negative towards public transport. Changes in outdoor activities seem to be temporal, with over 90% of people who currently reduced their outdoor activities not expecting to continue this behaviour in the future after corona. However, 27% of home-workers expect to work from home more often in the future. In addition, 20% of people expect to cycle and walk more and 20% expect to fly less in the future. These findings show that the coronavirus crisis might result in structural behavioural changes, although future longitudinal analyses are needed to observe these possible structural effects.
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              Exploring the Impacts of COVID-19 on Travel Behavior and Mode Preferences

              Highlights • Travel behavior before and during the COVID-19 pandemic was explored. • Significant change in primary purpose of traveling was observed due to the pandemic. • People tend to use less public transport and more private cars during pandemic. • Modal shift to active mode sfrom public transport and paratransit was significant. • People placed more priority on pandemic related factors when choosing a mode.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Transp Policy (Oxf)
                Transp Policy (Oxf)
                Transport Policy
                Published by Elsevier Ltd.
                0967-070X
                1879-310X
                27 January 2021
                27 January 2021
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Mobilities and Urban Policy Lab, Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University, Japan
                [2 ]Center for Sustainable Development and Global Smart City, Chubu University, Japan
                [3 ]Health & Communication Design Lab, University of British Columbia, Canada
                Author notes
                []Corresponding author:
                Article
                S0967-070X(21)00017-2
                10.1016/j.tranpol.2021.01.011
                7838579
                33519127
                3f143610-35e5-45dd-abcf-3f767e1078d0
                © 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

                Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.

                History
                : 5 December 2020
                : 23 January 2021
                Categories
                Invited Research Paper

                covid-19,public health,pandemics,expert survey,transport sector,impacts,measures,lifestyles,society

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