Abstract
IntroductionThe global Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is having a great impact on all areas of the everyday life, including travel behaviour. Various measures that focus on restricting social contacts have been implemented in order to reduce the spread of the virus. Understanding how daily activities and travel behaviour change during such global crisis and the reasons behind is crucial for developing suitable strategies for similar future events and analysing potential mid- and long-term impacts.MethodsIn order to provide empirical insights into changes in travel behaviour during the first Coronavirus-related lockdown in 2020 for Germany, an online survey with a relative representative sample for the German population was conducted a week after the start of the nationwide contact ban. The data was analysed performing descriptive and inferential statistical analyses.Results and DiscussionThe results suggest in general an increase in car use and decrease in public transport use as well as more negative perception of public transport as a transport alternative during the pandemic. Regarding activity-related travel patterns, the findings show firstly, that the majority of people go less frequent shopping; simultaneously, an increase in online shopping can be seen and characteristics of this group were analysed. Secondly, half of the adult population still left their home for leisure or to run errands; young adults were more active than all other age groups. Thirdly, the majority of the working population still went to work; one out of four people worked in home-office. Lastly, potential implications for travel behaviour and activity patterns as well as policy measures are discussed.
Highlights
The global Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is having a great impact on all areas of the everyday life, including travel behaviour
1 Introduction The global Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is having a great impact on all areas of the everyday life of people worldwide including travel behaviour
Besides analysing potential mid- and long-term impacts, understanding how daily activities and travel behaviour change during such global crisis and the reasons behind is crucial for developing suitable strategies for similar future events
Summary
The global Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is having a great impact on all areas of the everyday life, including travel behaviour. The global Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is having a great impact on all areas of the everyday life of people worldwide including travel behaviour. Kolarova et al European Transport Research Review (2021) 13:27 restaurants, cafés and hairdresser, only two persons from different households being allowed to meet in public, and for many of the German working population, when possible, work from home. This first lockdown was extended on April 1st to April 19th and was accepted, i.e. implemented, by all federal states.
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