Travel and commuting before and after COVID-19

Abstract

Major life events such as COVID-19 have the potential to change how people think about their transport choices. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a threat to health and created an extended period of disruption in people’s lives which could result in long-term changes towards travel attitudes and use of transport services. Research on changes towards travel attitudes and use of domestic travel modes as a result of previous pandemics was very limited with most studies focused on international travel. This study aimed to investigate how COVID-19 has influenced attitudes towards travel and intention to use transport modes in New Zealand and Australia. A survey was created and completed by 787 respondents (New Zealand n = 506, Australia n = 281). The results showed attitudes towards travel were negatively affected, particularly towards air travel and public transport and showed decreases in intentions to use these modes of transport. These changes in attitudes and intentions were more prominent in the Australian sample which reported less positive attitudes and larger decreases in intentions to use domestic transport modes. Further, international air travel attitudes and intentions were similar between the New Zealand and Australian sample. Age, gender, and perceived risk scores were also examined, with some significant but small effects. This information is useful to understand how the demand for transport services might change, particularly as New Zealand and Australia are ahead of many other countries in the pandemic cycle.