Local travel behaviour under continuing COVID-19 waves– A proxy for pandemic fatigue?
COVID-19 continues to threaten the world. Relaxing local travel behaviours on preventing the spread of COVID-19, may increase the infection risk in subsequent waves of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. In this study, we analysed changes in the travel behaviour of different population groups (adult, child, st...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198223000040 |
| _version_ | 1797860363554783232 |
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| author | Nan Zhang Tingrui Hu Shujia Shang Shiyao Zhang Wei Jia Jinhang Chen Zixuan Zhang Boni Su Zhenyu Wang Reynold Cheng Yuguo Li |
| author_facet | Nan Zhang Tingrui Hu Shujia Shang Shiyao Zhang Wei Jia Jinhang Chen Zixuan Zhang Boni Su Zhenyu Wang Reynold Cheng Yuguo Li |
| author_sort | Nan Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | COVID-19 continues to threaten the world. Relaxing local travel behaviours on preventing the spread of COVID-19, may increase the infection risk in subsequent waves of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. In this study, we analysed changes in the travel behaviour of different population groups (adult, child, student, elderly) during four pandemic waves in Hong Kong before January 2021, by 4-billion second-by-second smartcard records of subway. A significant continuous relaxation in human travel behaviour was observed during the four waves of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Residents sharply reduced their local travel by 51.9%, 50.1%, 27.6%, and 20.5% from the first to fourth pandemic waves, respectively. The population flow in residential areas, workplaces, schools, shopping areas, amusement areas and border areas, decreased on average by 30.3%, 33.5%, 41.9%, 58.1%, 85.4% and 99.6%, respectively, during the pandemic weeks. We also found that many other cities around the world experienced a similar relaxation trend in local travel behaviour, by comparing traffic congestion data during the pandemic with data from the same period in 2019. The quantitative pandemic fatigue in local travel behaviour could help governments partially predicting personal protective behaviours, and thus to suggest more accurate interventions during subsequent waves, especially for highly infectious virus variants such as Omicron. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T21:44:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9030e97a583d4a3fbf44385ccf91223e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2590-1982 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T21:44:39Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives |
| spelling | doaj.art-9030e97a583d4a3fbf44385ccf91223e2023-03-25T05:15:11ZengElsevierTransportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives2590-19822023-03-0118100757Local travel behaviour under continuing COVID-19 waves– A proxy for pandemic fatigue?Nan Zhang0Tingrui Hu1Shujia Shang2Shiyao Zhang3Wei Jia4Jinhang Chen5Zixuan Zhang6Boni Su7Zhenyu Wang8Reynold Cheng9Yuguo Li10Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Built Environment and Energy Efficient Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, ChinaBeijing Key Laboratory of Green Built Environment and Energy Efficient Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, ChinaBeijing Key Laboratory of Green Built Environment and Energy Efficient Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, ChinaThe Sifakis Research Institute for Trustworthy Autonomous Systems, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, ChinaDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaFaculty of Information Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, ChinaBeijing Key Laboratory of Green Built Environment and Energy Efficient Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, ChinaChina Electric Power Planning & Engineering Institute, Beijing, ChinaCollege of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, ChinaDepartment of Computer Science, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China; School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China; Corresponding author.COVID-19 continues to threaten the world. Relaxing local travel behaviours on preventing the spread of COVID-19, may increase the infection risk in subsequent waves of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. In this study, we analysed changes in the travel behaviour of different population groups (adult, child, student, elderly) during four pandemic waves in Hong Kong before January 2021, by 4-billion second-by-second smartcard records of subway. A significant continuous relaxation in human travel behaviour was observed during the four waves of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Residents sharply reduced their local travel by 51.9%, 50.1%, 27.6%, and 20.5% from the first to fourth pandemic waves, respectively. The population flow in residential areas, workplaces, schools, shopping areas, amusement areas and border areas, decreased on average by 30.3%, 33.5%, 41.9%, 58.1%, 85.4% and 99.6%, respectively, during the pandemic weeks. We also found that many other cities around the world experienced a similar relaxation trend in local travel behaviour, by comparing traffic congestion data during the pandemic with data from the same period in 2019. The quantitative pandemic fatigue in local travel behaviour could help governments partially predicting personal protective behaviours, and thus to suggest more accurate interventions during subsequent waves, especially for highly infectious virus variants such as Omicron.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198223000040COVID-19Local travel behaviourSubwayPublic transportTraffic congestion |
| spellingShingle | Nan Zhang Tingrui Hu Shujia Shang Shiyao Zhang Wei Jia Jinhang Chen Zixuan Zhang Boni Su Zhenyu Wang Reynold Cheng Yuguo Li Local travel behaviour under continuing COVID-19 waves– A proxy for pandemic fatigue? Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives COVID-19 Local travel behaviour Subway Public transport Traffic congestion |
| title | Local travel behaviour under continuing COVID-19 waves– A proxy for pandemic fatigue? |
| title_full | Local travel behaviour under continuing COVID-19 waves– A proxy for pandemic fatigue? |
| title_fullStr | Local travel behaviour under continuing COVID-19 waves– A proxy for pandemic fatigue? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Local travel behaviour under continuing COVID-19 waves– A proxy for pandemic fatigue? |
| title_short | Local travel behaviour under continuing COVID-19 waves– A proxy for pandemic fatigue? |
| title_sort | local travel behaviour under continuing covid 19 waves a proxy for pandemic fatigue |
| topic | COVID-19 Local travel behaviour Subway Public transport Traffic congestion |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198223000040 |
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