Public transport during COVID-19 - How to take advantage of a pandemic

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in March 2020 many changes occurred, one of them being a severe travel reduction. This has affected public transport heavily as they have operated with the same supply as before the pandemic but with reduced passengers and thereby ticket income, which could lead to long-term consequences for the post-pandemic public transport if not remediated. This master’s thesis was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic to investigate how public transport was affected during the pandemic’s first year, and to create solutions on how the found positive effects can be maintained and the negative ones counteracted. A literature study was carried out where the changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic were presented, i.e. travel changes for different modes of transport and societal changes. Interviews were held with the major regions’ public transport authorities to gain knowledge about the different approaches on the pandemic. Traffic data was analysed to collect numbers of the change in travel numbers and travel distribution over the day. Seven negative and three positive pandemic effects were found based on the research material. Furthermore four potential long-term effects were established, all negative. The long-term effects will be the most crucial ones to determine for the future planning of public transport but as they now only can be assumed, the documented pandemic effects are as important to give a relevant view of what has happened and to be an indication of what can be expected ahead. Twelve solutions were produced, ten aimed towards public transport authorities and two towards authorities working on a local, regional and national level. The solutions need to be adjusted and combined by each authority implementing them to achieve the most efficient result possible.