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Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected people’s daily life across the globe. This paper aims to understand the change of individual travel behavior during the pandemic. We administer a survey to record people’s travel habits before, during and after the stay-at-home order in New York City. Respondents’ information, including travel mode, travel frequency, trip purpose and demographics, is gathered to study switching behavior regarding travel patterns during the pandemic. Results show that among all travel mode choices, public transits are the most affected by the pandemic while bikes and automobiles are the least affected by the pandemic.
Highlights
In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a pandemic
We study the switching behavior among different travel modes based on respondents’ demographic and geographic information. This can help urban planners understand the individuals who are most likely affected by the COVID-19 policies and assist policymakers to assess the environmental impact of the pandemic
The biggest takeaway is that people are maintaining their telework despite the fact that the stay-at-home order has been lifted
Summary
In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a pandemic. In response, the “stay-at-home” order was issued in New York state around late March. We would like to highlight that this survey mainly targeted the Columbia community, which reflects how the members from a high-educational institute responded to the pandemic in terms of commuting in the city It represents the changes in travel patterns for other communities across the city with a similar structure and would offer insights into the emergency responses of the city. Cars and bikes have even seen an increase in usage after the stay at home order was lifted This is likely due to the fact that those two modes are seen as safer than public transportation since they carry a lower likelihood of disease transmission. Given the much larger shift towards telework in the aftermath of the pandemic, our data suggests an overall reduction in energy use and carbon emissions due to changes in travel mode. The increase in car usage could suggest an overall increase in emissions in the long run should people eventually move away from teleworking
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