Impact of COVID-19 on Perception of Commuters towards Work and Non-Work Trips in India

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the transportation sector leading to a change in travel behaviour. One of the most important responses of countries worldwide to slow the spread of the pandemic has been to restrict the movement of people, which has had a considerable effect on transport systems and is likely to affect modal choices of commuters. To assess the likely nature of such a shift, this study attempts to understand the perception of commuters related to work trips and non-work trips before and after the lockdown phase due to COVID-19. The Ordered Logit Model is used in this study to find the association of health-related safety perceptions of commuters about private and public transport with socio-economic and travel characteristics under the COVID-19 scenario. Model results showed that significant factors for the decline in usage of public transport are age and income whereas for the increase in usage of private transport- physical distancing and hygiene are significant.