Impact of COVID-19 on Travel Behavior and Shared Mobility Systems

US Transportation Collection2020PDFTech ReportMenon, NikhilKeita, YayeBertini, Robert L.University of South Florida. Center for Urban Transportation ResearchUnited States. Department of TransportationUniversity of South Florida. National Center for Transit Research (U.S.)University of South Florida. Center for Urban Transportation ResearchUnited StatesCommunicable diseasesPublic healthImpactsInformation technologyPublic transitRidesourcingShared mobilityStated preferencesSurveysTravel behaviorVehicle sharingEpidemiologyCOVID-19As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to evolve, transportation systems must adapt quickly to satisfy the needs of this new reality. This necessitates further studies to understand and develop strategies that can be used to navigate this new reality, mitigate the effects from potential contagion spread, and achieve positive and healthful outcomes at a system-level. With the aim to understand some of these pressing challenges, the research team conducted a study to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on travel behavior, active engagement, shared mobility, and to understand the role played by information and communication technologies (ICT) in the current environment. The main objectives of this research study are to better understand the impacts of the global pandemic on current and future travel behavior, activity engagement, and overall trip making with special focus on shared mobility systems. The first section of this report is a comprehensive review of web-based material on the strategies embraced by shared transportation providers to tackle the new normal posed by the coronavirus pandemic. Additionally, the research team also designed and developed a comprehensive web-based stated preference survey to collect data pertaining to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel behavior and shared mobility systems.120