IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i14p7974-d595770.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Changes in Passengers’ Travel Behavior Due to COVID-19

Author

Listed:
  • Dong-Gyun Ku

    (Department of Transportation Engineering, University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, Korea)

  • Jung-Sik Um

    (Department of Transportation Engineering, University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, Korea)

  • Young-Ji Byon

    (Department of Civil Infrastructure and Environmental Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi 127788, United Arab Emirates)

  • Joo-Young Kim

    (Department of Transportation Planning & Management, Korea National University of Transportation, Gyeonggi 16106, Korea)

  • Seung-Jae Lee

    (Department of Transportation Engineering, University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, Korea)

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 has changed the way people travel due to its highly contagious nature. In this study, changes in the travel behavior of passengers due to COVID-19 in the first half of 2020 were examined. To determine whether COVID-19 has affected the use of transportation by passengers, paired t -tests were conducted between the passenger volume of private vehicles in Seoul prior to and after the pandemic. Additionally, the passenger occupancy rate of different modes of transportation during the similar time periods were compared and analyzed to identify the changes in monthly usage rate for each mode. In the case of private vehicles and public bicycles, the usage rates have recovered or increased when compared to those of before the pandemic. Conversely, bus and rail passenger service rates have decreased from the previous year before the pandemic. Furthermore, it is found that existing bus and rail users have switched to the private auto mode due to COVID-19. Based on the results, traffic patterns of travelers after the outbreak and implications responding to the pandemic are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Dong-Gyun Ku & Jung-Sik Um & Young-Ji Byon & Joo-Young Kim & Seung-Jae Lee, 2021. "Changes in Passengers’ Travel Behavior Due to COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-16, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:7974-:d:595770
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7974/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7974/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michał Wielechowski & Katarzyna Czech & Łukasz Grzęda, 2020. "Decline in Mobility: Public Transport in Poland in the time of the COVID-19 Pandemic," Economies, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-24, September.
    2. Glykeria Myrovali & Maria Morfoulaki, 2021. "Sustainable Urban Mobility," Springer Texts in Business and Economics, in: Jason Papathanasiou & Georgios Tsaples & Anastasia Blouchoutzi (ed.), Urban Sustainability, chapter 2, pages 39-80, Springer.
    3. Maria Morfoulaki & Jason Papathanasiou, 2021. "Use of the Sustainable Mobility Efficiency Index (SMEI) for Enhancing the Sustainable Urban Mobility in Greek Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1, February.
    4. Thomas Feilhauer & Florian Braun & Katja Faller & David Hutter & Daniel Mathis & Johannes Neubauer & Jasmin Pogatschneg & Michelle Weber, 2021. "Mobility Choices—An Instrument for Precise Automatized Travel Behavior Detection & Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-23, February.
    5. Adam Przybylowski & Sandra Stelmak & Michal Suchanek, 2021. "Mobility Behaviour in View of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic—Public Transport Users in Gdansk Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jun Zhang & Shenghao Zhao & Chaonan Peng & Xianming Gong, 2022. "Spatial Heterogeneity of the Recovery of Road Traffic Volume from the Impact of COVID-19: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-20, November.
    2. Lingjuan Chen & Yijing Zhao & Zupeng Liu & Xinran Yang, 2022. "Construction of Commuters’ Multi-Mode Choice Model Based on Public Transport Operation Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-20, November.
    3. Teixeira, João Filipe & Silva, Cecília & Moura e Sá, Frederico, 2023. "Factors influencing modal shift to bike sharing: Evidence from a travel survey conducted during COVID-19," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    4. Konstantina Anastasiadou & Nikolaos Gavanas & Christos Pyrgidis & Magda Pitsiava-Latinopoulou, 2021. "Identifying and Prioritizing Sustainable Urban Mobility Barriers through a Modified Delphi-AHP Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-18, September.
    5. Majerčák Peter & Majerčák Jozef & Kurenkov Petr Vladimirovič, 2023. "Impact of the COVID Crisis on Public Passenger Transport in Slovakia and Urban Transport in Žilina on a Selected Line," LOGI – Scientific Journal on Transport and Logistics, Sciendo, vol. 14(1), pages 169-180, January.
    6. Nam-gun Kim & Hyeri Jang & Seungkeun Noh & Ju-hee Hong & Jongsoon Jung & Jinho Shin & Yongseung Shin & Jongseong Kim, 2022. "Analyzing the Effect of Social Distancing Policies on Traffic at Sinchon Station, South Korea, during the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020 and 2021," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-14, July.
    7. Yulong Pei & Xiaoxi Cai & Jie Li & Keke Song & Rui Liu, 2021. "Method for Identifying the Traffic Congestion Situation of the Main Road in Cold-Climate Cities Based on the Clustering Analysis Algorithm," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-31, August.
    8. Soheil Sohrabi & Fang Shu & Anika Gupta & Morteza Hossein Sabbaghian & Amirarsalan Mehrara Molan & Soheil Sajjadi, 2023. "Health Impacts of COVID-19 through the Changes in Mobility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-20, February.
    9. Štefancová Vladimíra & Mašek Jaroslav & Harantová Veronika & Mazanec Jaroslav & Foltýnová Hana Brůhová, 2023. "Analysis of Passenger Behaviour During the Covid-19 Pandemic Situation," LOGI – Scientific Journal on Transport and Logistics, Sciendo, vol. 14(1), pages 203-214, January.
    10. Wen Yang & Quanliang Chen & Jing Yang, 2022. "Factors Affecting Travel Mode Choice between High-Speed Railway and Road Passenger Transport—Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-17, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pezoa, Raúl & Basso, Franco & Quilodrán, Paulina & Varas, Mauricio, 2023. "Estimation of trip purposes in public transport during the COVID-19 pandemic: The case of Santiago, Chile," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    2. Anna E. Wolnowska & Lech Kasyk, 2021. "Ways Residents of Large Cities in Poland, Commute before and during the Covid-19 Pandemic," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3B), pages 749-768.
    3. Long, Alfie & Carney, Ffion & Kandt, Jens, 2023. "Who is returning to public transport for non-work trips after COVID-19? Evidence from older citizens' smart cards in the UK's second largest city region," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    4. Marta Borowska-Stefańska & Maxim A. Dulebenets & Michał Kowalski & Filip Turoboś & Szymon Wiśniewski, 2023. "Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Daily Mobility of the Elderly Living in Small Cities in Lodz Province," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(9), pages 1-23, May.
    5. Wang, Wei & Miao, Wei & Liu, Yongdong & Deng, Yiting & Cao, Yunfei, 2022. "The impact of COVID-19 on the ride-sharing industry and its recovery: Causal evidence from China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 128-141.
    6. Idiano D'Adamo & Massimo Gastaldi & Ilhan Ozturk, 2023. "The sustainable development of mobility in the green transition: Renewable energy, local industrial chain, and battery recycling," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 840-852, April.
    7. Daniel Albalate & Xavier Fageda, 2022. ""Have Low Emission Zones slowed urban traffic recovery after Covid-19?"," IREA Working Papers 202222, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Dec 2022.
    8. Borsati, Mattia & Nocera, Silvio & Percoco, Marco, 2022. "Questioning the spatial association between the initial spread of COVID-19 and transit usage in Italy," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    9. Sreten Simović & Tijana Ivanišević & Bojana Bradić & Svetlana Čičević & Aleksandar Trifunović, 2021. "What Causes Changes in Passenger Behavior in South-East Europe during the COVID-19 Pandemic?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-11, July.
    10. Adam Przybylowski & Sandra Stelmak & Michal Suchanek, 2021. "Mobility Behaviour in View of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic—Public Transport Users in Gdansk Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, January.
    11. Jordi Mazon, 2024. "5-E Levers: A New Conceptual Model for Achieving Carbon Neutrality in Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-12, February.
    12. Yang, Chao & Wan, Zhiyang & Yuan, Quan & Zhou, Yang & Sun, Maopeng, 2023. "Travel before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: Exploring factors in essential travel using empirical data," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    13. Michał Suchanek & Agnieszka Szmelter-Jarosz, 2023. "Car enthusiasm during the second and fourth waves of COVID-19 pandemic," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    14. Gülay Demir & Milanko Damjanović & Boško Matović & Radoje Vujadinović, 2022. "Toward Sustainable Urban Mobility by Using Fuzzy-FUCOM and Fuzzy-CoCoSo Methods: The Case of the SUMP Podgorica," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-27, April.
    15. Velias, Alina & Georganas, Sotiris & Vandoros, Sotiris, 2022. "COVID-19: Early evening curfews and mobility," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    16. Beck, Matthew J. & Hensher, David A. & Nelson, John D., 2021. "Public transport trends in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic: An investigation of the influence of bio-security concerns on trip behaviour," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    17. Spyros Niavis & Dimitris Kallioras & George Vlontzos & Marie-Noelle Duquenne, 2021. "COVID-19 Pandemic and Lockdown Fine Optimality," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-26, March.
    18. Hafiz Suliman Munawar & Sara Imran Khan & Zakria Qadir & Abbas Z. Kouzani & M A Parvez Mahmud, 2021. "Insight into the Impact of COVID-19 on Australian Transportation Sector: An Economic and Community-Based Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-24, January.
    19. Anwar, Muhammad Azfar & Dhir, Amandeep & Jabeen, Fauzia & Zhang, Qingyu & Siddiquei, Ahmad Nabeel, 2023. "Unconventional green transport innovations in the post-COVID-19 era. A trade-off between green actions and personal health protection," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PA).
    20. Joao T. Aparicio & Elisabete Arsenio & Rui Henriques, 2021. "Understanding the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Public Transportation Travel Patterns in the City of Lisbon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-18, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:7974-:d:595770. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.