Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Active Travel Mode Choice in Bangladesh: A Study from the Perspective of Sustainability and New Normal Situation

Niaz Mahmud Zafri, Asif Khan, Shaila Jamal and Bhuiyan Monwar Alam
Additional contact information
Niaz Mahmud Zafri: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Asif Khan: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Shaila Jamal: School of Earth, Environment & Society, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada
Bhuiyan Monwar Alam: Department of Geography & Planning, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, USA

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 12, 1-18

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused incredible impacts on people’s travel behavior. Recent studies suggest that while the demand for public transport has decreased due to passengers’ inability to maintain physical distance inside this mode, the demand for private automobile and active transport modes (walking and cycling) has increased during the pandemic. Policymakers should take this opportunity given by the pandemic and encourage people to use active transport more in the new normal situation to achieve sustainable transportation outcomes. This study explores the expected change in active transport mode usage in the new normal situation in Bangladesh based on the data from a questionnaire survey. The study finds that 56% and 45% of the respondents were expected to increase travel by walking and cycling, respectively, during the new normal situation. On the other hand, 19% of the respondents were expected to do the opposite. The study further identifies the factors influencing the expected change in travel by active transport modes during the new normal situation by developing multinomial logistic regression models. Finally, this study proposes policies to increase active transport use beyond the pandemic and ensure sustainable mobility for city dwellers and their well-being.

Keywords: walking; cycling; pandemic; COVID-19; new normal; sustainable transportation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/12/6975/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/12/6975/ (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:13:y:2021:i:12:p:6975-:d:579107

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 ().