Transport and COVID-19: where are we now?

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the lives of billions of people around the world in various ways. It impacted activity participation, daily travel patterns, long-distance (air) travel and freight transport. This unprecedented impact was recorded in the academic literature, leading to the publication of hundreds of articles on this topic over the past three years. In this special issue of Transport Reviews, we publish eleven review articles concentrating on the different impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the transport field. Our goal from this issue is to summarise the recent research on this topic and critically reflect on the published studies while providing some forward-looking discussion on the future expectations of the field.

The increase in working from home (WFH) due to government restrictions on travel was one of the major topics that Delbosc and Kent (2024) concentrated on. They highlighted the strong underlying demand for WFH, and how it was only available for a specific group of workers. They predicted that WFH policies adopted during the pandemic will face major challenges in future due to conflicts between employee preferences and their expectations of WFH. They also explored the employer perspectives on WFH and how they favour routines where specific days of on-site attendance are mandated, which is expected to have some impacts on the future of transport. The impact of WFH did vary around the globe, especially in developing countries where WFH was not an option for a big percentage of the population. Jamal and Paez (2024) concentrated on the impacts of COVID-19 on daily personal travel in the Global South. They found some regional differences in terms of mode choice during COVID-19. They also found that papers were lacking in the measurement of the impacts of COVID-19 on various equity-seeking groups such as individuals with disabilities in the Global South.

The COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by an increase in the use of active transport modes for recreational purposes. Buehler and Pucher (2024) reviewed 100 peer-reviewed and 12 non-refereed articles to highlight the increase in cycling around the world, especially for recreational purposes. Their study reported on the expansions of cycling infrastructure during the COVID-19 period and how equity considerations were accounted for. They also explored the speed at which these policies were adopted around the world. Meanwhile Oluyede et al. (2024) concentrated on the implementation of COVID street policies, where streets were opened for pedestrians and cyclists and closed for cars, allowing physical distancing in cities. They identified four distinct typologies of COVID streets, showed how various cities around the world adopted these policies and highlighted their impacts.

Since not all workers stayed at home, those who commuted faced other challenges. Zarabi et al. (2024) concentrated on the changes in travel behaviour among those who had to commute during the pandemic. In particular, a significant modal shift from public transport to the car and active transport use was observed. The study showed that commuters during the pandemic were not offered the normal set of alternatives to choose from when commuting. The study also highlighted the role of negative emotions during public transport use (e.g. fear of getting infected) on mode shifts. Rogers et al. (2024) concentrated on older adults. They found that the COVID-19 impacts were more pronounced for older adults, who, in various countries around the world, were instructed to quarantine for prolonged periods and avoid contact with others. This often resulted in lower access to social activities and even social exclusion of older adults, reducing their physical and mental health levels. Their review suggests that improving walking routes and accessibility to public transport for older people can stimulate activity participation.

Lizana et al. (2024) analysed the impacts of individual-level factors on public transport use during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study revealed that car availability, WFH opportunities and high educational level contributed the most to reducing public transport use during the pandemic; three times more than their impact prior to the pandemic. Factors such as COVID-19 risk perception, gender, high income and health had a moderate effect on the decision to stop using public transport. Public transport habits, travel distance and physical accessibility also influenced public transport use. Similar to the public transport sector, the aviation sector was impacted dramatically during the different stages of the pandemic, which is highlighted in the article by Li and Wang (2024). They analysed the changes in two stages: decline in the demand stage and the recovery stage. The decline in the demand stage was not uniform and varied based on different markets, passenger socio-economic factors and travel purposes with a greater decline in international travel compared to domestic travel. The recovery stage experienced new policies to alleviate restrictive measures, which were translated to a gradual recovery in the demand despite the newly confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide. Li and Wang (2024) recommended conducting future studies to identify the impacts of infection fear, government measures and vaccine availability on people's decision to travel by air during the pandemic.

The negative and positive externalities associated with the COVID-19 pandemic on the transport system did vary. Cavallaro and Nocera (2024) highlighted the impacts of COVID-19 measures on emissions. They documented that the reduction in transport demand reduced local and regional emissions. They also discussed how freight transport emissions did not change much as the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions did not impact this industry as much as they did with regular commutes. The paper also highlighted how the decline in public transport ridership led to a major increase in per-rider emissions since public transport frequencies often remained high (as operators often did not lower services in order to allow physical distancing). Meanwhile, Marshall et al. (2024) highlighted the new challenges the stay-at-home orders had on traffic safety. The number of severe crashes increased, despite the reduction in the number of drivers on the road. They have also documented the increase in aggressive driving, a phenomenon that requires more attention from policy-makers since such behaviour continued after the removal of travel restrictions. Beckers and Cant (2024) highlighted the increase in intensity and diversity of e-commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to retailers diversifying their operations and opening online channels to cope with the pandemic demand. They found that logistics service providers started to provide tailored services and come in more direct contact with consumers compared to pre-COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that cities can adapt quickly to some of the new challenges they face, yet some of the adapted policies did not last, for example, some of the open streets or new cycling facilities were converted back to their original status. Public transport is the mode that suffered the most during the pandemic and is still suffering today when it comes to the decline in ridership; the airline industry is recovering much faster. The pandemic accelerated the adoption of WFH policies, which are expected to largely stay in the Global North for the foreseeable future, yet in the Global South the challenges are different and further research is needed to understand if there are any lasting impacts of the COVID-19 policies on travel behaviour, especially of marginalised groups. Finally, COVID-19 has increased the intensity and diversity of e-shopping. However, it is not yet known if this will materialise into a habit which will have major impacts on the land use and transport system.