Investigating the Challenges of Public Transportation and Users Behavior during and Post-COVID-19 Era

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Farnoosh Roozkhosh ¹
• Aliakbar Salaripour ²

¹ Faculty of Geography, University of Georgia, GA, USA.

² Department of Urban Planning, Faculty of Arts and Architecture, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.

10.22067/jstinp.2022.79551.1025

Abstract

The coronavirus (COVID-19) spread has significantly affected the city and its citizens from various aspects. Public transport systems are considered one of the essential parts affected by this virus to change citizens' travel behavior. The main aims of this study are, firstly, investigating the travel behavior of citizens in the period before, during, and after the coronavirus epidemic in the three metropolises in Iran (Tehran, Mashhad, and Isfahan) from four different perspectives. These four aspects include 1) the main reasons for the use of public transport in the pre-coronavirus era, 2) changes in the use of public transport during this epidemic disease, 3) the effect of the public transport system on the prevalence of COVID-19, and 4) behavioral changes in the use of public transport after the end of the epidemic. Secondly, assessing the impacts of these aspects on citizens' confidence in using public transportation after the coronavirus outbreak is based on the system dynamics model. The data collection tool is the Likert scale questionnaire, and the results were analyzed descriptively based on the evidence found.

Keywords

• Public transportation
• COVID-19
• Challenges
• Pandemic
• System dynamics

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