Comparing children and parental preferences for active commuting to school. A focus on Italian middle-school students

Active commuting to school has significant positive health and environmental impacts;however, the increasing use of private vehicles has transformed school commuting from an active to a passive activity. Our research is aimed at analyzing which factors influence the choice on how to commute to school with a special focus on the role played by the Covid-19 health emergency. We carried out an online survey involving a sample of 193 students of a middle school of Trieste (Italy) and 217 parents. We find that attitudes and perceptions of children and parents significantly differ with respect to both the risks and benefits of different means of transportation and with respect to the policies that should be implemented to support active commuting to school. Our study is innovative with respect to the age range we focused on, since most of the literature deals with young children (elementary school) or with adolescents (high school) whose modal choice are taken either by their parents or by the students themselves. With reference to middle school students, instead, it is expected that children and parents jointly take the choice on how to commute and it is relevant to detect the role played by each family member in the decision-making process. Our results will be useful to local administrators, policy-makers and decision-makers in order to design, implement and support transport and demand management policies that are effective in shifting the mobility habits of middle school students toward healthier and more sustainable means of transportation.

Acceptability of the Bicycle as Alternative Transport in the Financial Sector of Quito in the Context of the Covid 19 Pandemic

For a city to become resilient, smart measures must be taken that can cope with unexpected events such as the arrival of a pandemic or natural disasters caused by climate change and also prevent further destruction of our planet. Transport powered by combustion engines is one of the main emitters of greenhouse gases that increase the temperature of the planet and cause climate change. The public transport service of the city of Quito is the most used by its inhabitants and is mostly made up of combustion engine buses, however, during certain months of the years 2020 and 2021 it was suspended and the capacity was also limited to prevent the spread of the covid-19 virus, as it has become one of the main sources of contagion. The limitation of public transport led to economic, political and social instability. Some citizens and transport operators chose to break the law due to the limitations of public transport. Given the demand for transport, this study calibrated ten multinomial logit econometric models to estimate the probability of acceptance of the bicycle as an alternative mode of transport to public transport and taxis in the financial sector of Quito, using stated and revealed preference surveys. The bicycle is considered as a sustainable means of transport capable of solving the need to move around with social distance and in situations where public transport is limited. © 2022 IEEE.

Do cycling facilities matter during the COVID-19 outbreak? A stated preference survey of willingness to adopt bicycles in an Indonesian context

This study aims to evaluate to what level bicycles can replace motorized vehicles during the outbreak. The survey respondents were asked to choose between a bicycle and existing motorized vehicles for seven choice scenarios based on traffic congestion and bicycle infrastructure. This study integrated a multiple-indicator, multiple-cause (MIMIC) and a mixed logit model to examine the attitudes change caused by the outbreak and the social influences on the preference for bicycles. The results indicated that developing bicycle infrastructure encourages the adoption of bicycles, although most users tend to come from low-income and less-educated people. Based on the MIMIC model results, this study found significant differences in attitudes change and social influences across respondents' socioeconomic characteristics, as male respondents were more likely to be easily influenced by their friends with respect to cycling than females. Attitudes change related to global warming and environmental consciousness also affected the preference for bicycles.

Comparing children and parental preferences for active commuting to school. A focus on Italian middle-school students

Active commuting to school has significant positive health and environmental impacts;however, the increasing use of private vehicles has transformed school commuting from an active to a passive activity. Our research is aimed at analyzing which factors influence the choice on how to commute to school with a special focus on the role played by the Covid-19 health emergency. We carried out an online survey involving a sample of 193 students of a middle school of Trieste (Italy) and 217 parents. We find that attitudes and perceptions of children and parents significantly differ with respect to both the risks and benefits of different means of transportation and with respect to the policies that should be implemented to support active commuting to school. Our study is innovative with respect to the age range we focused on, since most of the literature deals with young children (elementary school) or with adolescents (high school) whose modal choice are taken either by their parents or by the students themselves. With reference to middle school students, instead, it is expected that children and parents jointly take the choice on how to commute and it is relevant to detect the role played by each family member in the decision-making process. Our results will be useful to local administrators, policy-makers and decision-makers in order to design, implement and support transport and demand management policies that are effective in shifting the mobility habits of middle school students toward healthier and more sustainable means of transportation.

Willingness to pay for policies to reduce health risks from COVID-19: Evidence from U.S. professional sports.

Airborne transmission of the COVID-19 virus increased the need for health policies to reduce transmission in congregate settings associated with minimal risk before the pandemic. While a large literature estimates tradeoffs between policies designed to reduce negative health outcomes, no empirical research addresses consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for health policies designed to reduce airborne virus transmission. Using survey data from 1381 fans of professional sports, we estimate consumers' WTP for reduced likelihood of coronavirus transmission through mask and social distancing policies using a stated preference approach. The results indicate increased attendance likelihood if the venue requires masks and limits attendance, with significant heterogeneity in WTP across risk scenarios and sports. We characterize consumers as casual fans who prefer a mask requirement but are indifferent to capacity constraints, strong fans who are anti-maskers and prefer capacity constraints, and a second group of casual fans with positive WTP under both mask and limited capacity requirements. For example, casual fans' WTP for masking, $38 per National Basketball Association (NBA) game attended, is more than double their WTP for capacity constraints only. Strong fans' WTP for attending capacity constrained NBA games was $490, more than 400% higher than the pre-pandemic average WTP of $105.

Vaccine preferences driving vaccine-decision making of different target groups: a systematic review of choice-based experiments.

BACKGROUND: Choice-based experiments have been increasingly used to elicit preferences for vaccines and vaccination programs. This study aims to systematically identify and examine choice-based experiments assessing (differences in) vaccine preferences of vaccinees, representatives and health advisors. METHODS: Five electronic databases were searched on choice-based conjoint analysis studies or discrete choice experiments capturing vaccine preferences of children, adolescents, parents, adults and healthcare professionals for attributes of vaccines or vaccine settings up to September 2020. Data was extracted using a standardized form covering all important aspects of choice experiments. A quality assessment was used to assess the validity of studies. Attributes were categorized into outcome, process, cost and other. The importance of attributes was assessed by the frequency of reporting and statistical significance. Results were compared between high-quality studies and lower-quality studies. RESULTS: A total of 42 studies were included, with the majority conducted in high-income countries after 2010 (resp. n = 34 and n = 37). Preferences of representatives were studied in nearly half of the studies (47.6%), followed by vaccinees (35.7%) and health advisors (9.5%). Sixteen high-quality studies passed the quality assessment. Outcome- and cost- related attributes such as vaccine effectiveness, vaccine risk, cost and protection duration were most often statistically significant across both target groups, with vaccine effectiveness being the most important. Risks associated with vaccination, such as side effects, were more often statistically significant in studies targeting vaccinees, while cost-related attributes were more often statistically significant in studies of representatives. Process-related attributes such as vaccine accessibility and time were least important across both target groups. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review in which vaccine preferences of different target groups were assessed and compared. The same attributes were most important for vaccine decisions of vaccinees and representatives, with only minor differences in level of evidence for vaccine risk and cost. Future research on vaccine preferences of health advisors and/or among target groups in low-resource settings would give insight into the generalizability of current findings.

Potential long-term effects of Covid-19 on telecommuting and environment: An Italian case-study.

To contain the sudden spread of SARS-CoV-2, many governments encouraged people to work from home, generating an unprecedented diffusion of this activity. Furthermore, Covid-19 has induced drastic changes in everyday life and travel habits, which might persist in the future. This paper aims to understand and estimate the potential long-term impacts of telework on the environment due to the pandemic, by analyzing factors affecting the frequency of telecommuting, the mode choice for traveling to work, and pollutant emissions generated by these trips. Data from a mobility survey administered in Padova (Italy) was used. Results indicate that Covid-19 could cause a rebound effect reversing the positive impacts of working from home, since, even if the number of trips could be reduced, many shifts towards non-sustainable travel modes could occur. The promotion of telework should be combined with measures fostering sustainable travel habits to pave the way towards a future green mobility.