Restriction of public transport services as a part of COVID-19 containment policies and user responses

Among different modes of transport, public transport is the most directly affected one as it is irreconcilable to the widely adopted approach of social distancing. The sudden drop of the travel demand challenged the collectiveness of carriage of passengers, which is a fundamental concept of public transport. In this chapter, two datasets are explored to understand the response of public transport in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis of Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) data implies that the restrictions in public transport were implemented often as an accompanying measure to intensify general restrictions of human movements such as “lockdown,” but a smaller number of countries restricted public transport in order to hinder human gatherings on board for long periods. An analysis of the TU Wien dataset shows that, in the early phase of the pandemic, home office was the major driver to shift passengers away from public transport, but shifts to other modes were also observed. Fear of infection risk on board was the major motivation to change the travel mode, while a majority of those who remained on public transport had no alternative. Even during an epidemic, restriction of public transport may lead to de facto loss of mobility for those who have to be mobile but who do not own motorized private vehicles for the distances beyond walkable or bikeable range. Public transport sector has to be prepared for next similar possible epidemics so that closure is avoided while other necessary measures are implemented.

COVID-19 containment measures and policies for sustainable transport: present changes and future directions.

The COVID-19 containment measures are parts of the key strategies is to reduce human mobility to slow down the spread, thus at a crossroad with transport policy and affecting travel behaviors. In this paper, based on information collected with expert questionnaire and supported by a literature review, we carried out an analysis on how transport policy is affected through various COVID-19 containment measures. Our analysis shows that the COVID-19 measures on public transport are virtually all restrictive, calling for additional behavioral changes, typically wearing face masks and enforced on a precautionary basis, since there seems no epidemiological consensus that public transport is a high-risk superspreading environment at the current status of knowledge. Moreover, from the result of the expert questionnaire, it is clear that a large variety of measures has been enforced, in response to the specific problem of containment, thus demonstrating that there was neither preparedness nor common vision among the public transport operators. On the contrary, for private motorized transport, COVID-19 measures are often oriented on ease of existing restrictions and regulations. This is not in line with the principle of sustainable transport policies to encourage the use of active modes and public transport and to discourage the use of private motorized modes. It shows the vulnerability of current transport policy and policy-making. (English) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Le misure di contenimento del COVID-19 sono parte delle strategie essenziali per ridurre la mobilità degli individui al fine di rallentare il contagio, finendo per interferire con le politiche dei trasporti e influenzando le abitudini in fatto di spostamenti. In questo articolo, sulla scorta di informazioni raccolte grazie ad un questionario somministrato ad esperti del settore e corroborate da una analisi di letteratura in materia, si presenta un’analisi che descrive come le politiche dei trasporti risentano effettivamente di tali misure di contenimento. L’analisi dimostra che tali azioni applicate al trasporto pubblico sono quasi esclusivamente di natura restrittiva, implicando comportamenti di viaggio adattivi. Ad esempio, l’uso delle mascherine protettive è necessarie a scopo precauzionale, non essendovi univoco accordo, dal punto di vista epidemiologico, sulla caratterizzazione del trasporto pubblico quale ambiente a rischio di alto contagio, allo stato delle attuali conoscenze. Inoltre, dalle risultanze del questionario appare una pletora di misure applicate in risposta all’esigenza del contenimento, cosa che dimostra la mancanza preparazione e unicità di vedute fra gli operatori di trasporto pubblico. Al contrario, per il trasporto privato le misure di contenimento del COVID-19 sono, invece, orientate ad un alleggerimento delle restrizioni, confliggendo di fatto con il principio generale delle politiche di trasporto sostenibile che mira a sostenere i modi non motorizzati e il trasporto pubblico e a ridurre l’uso dell’auto privata, evidenziando la vulnerabilità delle politiche dei trasporti e dei processi decisionali in questo momento. (Italian) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Ingegneria Ferroviaria is the property of Ingegneri Ferroviari and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)