Tools for the monitoring, user characterization, and their applications to the Public Integrated Transport System due to the COVID-19 disease effects: A case study in Bogotá, TRANSMILENIO company

Abstract

The pandemic made the transport system administration switch the way decisions were made in topics such as the response speed, resilience to shifts in the demand, and the new policy needs. Therefore, public transport requires monitoring tools, such as dashboards, and an emphasis in user characterization, in addition to traditional modeling and supply-demand indicators historically used by TRANSMILENIO to command the operation of the public transport system of Bogotá D.C. This study employed descriptive spatial and statistical analysis to comprehend the relations among the registers of contagion waves, user survey and the boarding information on Public Transport Integrated System (SITP for their Spanish initials). Complementarily, the article shows the shifts in the demand towards the regulatory milestones for the pandemic, and how short-term changes in bus supply were made due to these set of regulations. The paper also provides a recap of the international discussion about the occupation, efficiency, and biosecurity of massive public transport systems. The main results for TRANSMILENIO were some supply changes, among others.