ABSTRACT
The paper reports evidence related to peoples' perceptions and attitude during the early stages of COVID-19 related lockdown in India in four major aspects: strategies and preventive measures, long-distance travel, essential services, and post-lockdown travel. A five-stage survey instrument was designed and circulated through various online modes to make it convenient to the respondents and also to achieve a greater geographical coverage within a short period of time. The survey responses were analyzed using statistical tools and the results are translated into potential policy recommendations which may be useful to implement effective interventions during future pandemics of similar nature. The findings highlight a high rate of awareness among the people about the COVID-19, lack of supply of protective equipment such as masks, gloves, and personal protective equipment kits during the early stage of lockdown in India. However, several heterogeneities were also observed across a few socio-economic groups which emphasize the need for targeted campaigns in a diverse country such as India. The findings also suggest the need for arranging safe and hygienic long-distance trips for a section of the society when such lockdown measures are extended for long periods. The observations related to mode choice preferences during the post-lockdown recovery period indicate a potential shift of public transport patronage to the personal modes.
ABSTRACT
The paper reports evidence related to peoples' perceptions and attitude during the early stages of COVID-19 related lockdown in India in four major aspects: strategies and preventive measures, long-distance travel, essential services, and post-lockdown travel. A five-stage survey instrument was designed and circulated through various online modes to make it convenient to the respondents and also to achieve a greater geographical coverage within a short period of time. The survey responses were analyzed using statistical tools and the results are translated into potential policy recommendations which may be useful to implement effective interventions during future pandemics of similar nature. The findings highlight a high rate of awareness among the people about the COVID-19, lack of supply of protective equipment such as masks, gloves, and personal protective equipment kits during the early stage of lockdown in India. However, several heterogeneities were also observed across a few socio-economic groups which emphasize the need for targeted campaigns in a diverse country such as India. The findings also suggest the need for arranging safe and hygienic long-distance trips for a section of the society when such lockdown measures are extended for long periods. The observations related to mode choice preferences during the post-lockdown recovery period indicate a potential shift of public transport patronage to the personal modes.
ABSTRACT
The global outbreak of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has posed multifaceted challenges to the world. In order to restrict the spread of the highly contagious virus, the Government of India imposed lockdown and social distancing rules on March 24, 2020. As the experiences from lockdown are completely new, a critical scientific question arises on how to derive the social impact of the lockdown and identify the scopes for imposing more efficient and effective lockdown in the future, if the situation demands, as well as formulating future transport strategies. In this regard, the present study was aimed to bring out the evidences related to public perceptions and attitude towards travel-related activities and preventive measures during the early stages of lockdown in Indian cities. A five-stage survey instrument was designed and circulated through various online modes to make it convenient to the respondents and also to achieve a greater geographical coverage within a short period of time. The survey responses were analysed to obtain meaningful insights and derive implications in four specific aspects - attitude towards strategies and preventive measures, long-distance travel characteristics, perceptions towards essential services, and, perceptions towards post-lockdown travel. The study reports several interesting observations with respect to each of the above-mentioned aspects that may be of use to the policy and decision-makers in the near future.