Changes in public transport markets due to disruptive events – A case study of Taiwan Taoyuan airport mass rapid transit in the COVID-19 pandemic

Barbara T.H. Yen, Corinne Mulley and Chia-Jung Yeh

Research in Transportation Economics, 2025, vol. 112, issue C

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic was a disruptive event for public transport. Many case studies have reported large decreases in patronage, and this has caused serious financial problems for operators. This study uses Taiwan Taoyuan Airport Mass Rapid Transit as the case study to investigate the influence of COVID-19 as a disruptive event. This study investigates COVID-19 impacts from the perspective of changes in key markets for public transport, verifying significance using beta regression. Other than a decrease in patronage, the model results confirmed a significant shift in the target market from tourists using the airport to local residents and in service areas from the international airport to residential areas. The findings of the study can help policymakers reconsider the roles of particular public transport systems in the light of disruptive events. This study suggests that during disruptive events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers should move beyond simply subsidizing essential public transport services. Instead, they should identify alternative demand sources and leverage the competitive attributes of public transport to maintain and enhance patronage.

Keywords: OD pair; Disruptive events; COVID-19; Transport market change; Public transport service; Beta regression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R41 R42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0739885925000654
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:retrec:v:112:y:2025:i:c:s0739885925000654

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_2&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101582

Access Statistics for this article

Research in Transportation Economics is currently edited by M. Dresner

More articles in Research in Transportation Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().