The Unintended Consequences of COVID-19 Mitigation Measures on Mass Transit and Car Use

Élise Labonté-LeMoyne, Shang-Lin Chen, Constantinos K. Coursaris, Sylvain Sénécal and Pierre-Majorique Léger
Additional contact information
Élise Labonté-LeMoyne: NSERC-Prompt Industrial Research Chair in User Experience, HEC Montreal, Montreal, QC H3T 2A7, Canada
Shang-Lin Chen: NSERC-Prompt Industrial Research Chair in User Experience, HEC Montreal, Montreal, QC H3T 2A7, Canada
Constantinos K. Coursaris: NSERC-Prompt Industrial Research Chair in User Experience, HEC Montreal, Montreal, QC H3T 2A7, Canada
Sylvain Sénécal: NSERC-Prompt Industrial Research Chair in User Experience, HEC Montreal, Montreal, QC H3T 2A7, Canada
Pierre-Majorique Léger: NSERC-Prompt Industrial Research Chair in User Experience, HEC Montreal, Montreal, QC H3T 2A7, Canada

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 23, 1-13

Abstract: As the world adapts to COVID-19, the transport behaviour of commuters has been greatly modified. Governments and transit authorities will need strong, well-received mitigation measures and education campaigns to maintain the historically upward trend of sustainable mass transit usage following this pandemic. This study, from a survey of 1968 Canadians in early May 2020, reveals that, following the end of stay-at-home orders, commuters intend to use their cars more and mass transit less. Driving these behavioural changes are commuters’ perceptions that mass transit use will negatively impact their health safety, peace of mind, and travel experience. The results also show that certain mitigation measures, such as more frequent cleaning and mandatory hand washing, are likely to reduce this decline, whereas e-monitoring and the use of health certificates will be detrimental to mass transit ridership through user perception. These results can help lessen the environmental impact of the public returning to work by encouraging their continued use of more environmentally friendly modes of transportation.

Keywords: COVID-19; public transport; travel behaviour; risk perception; mitigation measures; post-lockdown travel (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/23/9892/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/23/9892/ (text/html)

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:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:23:p:9892-:d:451562

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().