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Illustrated scheme of costs, revenues, and compensations in field of public transport (Source: authors)
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This article focuses on possible approaches to safe regional public transport during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purposes of the research are examination the conditions for ensuring safe transport and the impact on the planning of transport services. The result is an assessment of the operation of regional public transport, consisting of the possibi...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... transport is standardly financed from fare revenues and finances (compensations) from public service obligations (PSO). Figure 1 captures the relation between the revenue and the expenditure components. The Figure 1 is divided into five parts, each describing a different case in terms of vehicle capacity utilization. ...
Context 2
... 1 captures the relation between the revenue and the expenditure components. The Figure 1 is divided into five parts, each describing a different case in terms of vehicle capacity utilization. The situation before the COVID-19 pandemic is shown on the left. ...
Context 3
... the seats are arranged in a row, a γ max factor of up to 0.500 could ideally be achieved. It can be seen from Figure 1 that in a regional bus, the seating arrangement behind it predominates, while in train unit no. 640 is used to the maximum extent possible in a vis-à-vis arrangement. ...
Context 4
... the same time, increasing the public funds invested to public transport is a real challenge for the sustainability of public transport in its current form. Taking into account safe distance among passengers, an increase in transport subsidies from public funds is almost inevitable, because in all cases mentioned in Figure 1 sustainable public transport becomes much more dependent on public financial sources. Whether they will be used to rehabilitate fares or they will be used to co-finance capacity strengthening. ...
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The COVID-19 pandemic affected people all over the world, including the Czech Republic (CZ). In the CZ, a number of measures were applied in 2020 to reduce the contact between people and their mobility. This article dealt with the importance of forests during the pandemic. Data from 2019 and 2020 were compared. The qualitative data were obtained fr...
Citations
... That is associated mostly to the fact that public transport as a collective mode is a potential place of transmission of the disease. Fridrisek and Janos analysed in their study safe distances between passengers for public transport planning in order to understand how many and how big vehicles should operate on each route to offer safe conditions to passengers (Fridrisek & Janos, 2022). The attitude of public authorities in that aspect is very important because, as Chen et al. analysed, there is an impact of the COVID-19 remedial measures on passenger decisions . ...
... The dataset used in this research comes from COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports (CMR) supported by Google (COVID-19 Community Mobility Report, n.d.). This dataset was verified as a reliable data source and used in other studies (Tarkowski et al., 2020;Rahman et al., 2021;Fridrisek & Janos, 2022). The CMR distinguishes six types of mobility. ...
COVID-19 was a unique event that globally influenced socio-economic systems in many dimensions. One of them was transportation and mobility patterns, especially during lockdown introduced for the sake of public health. Although restrictions were rather universal within each country, cities were characterized by different mobility patterns. The aim of this study was to analyse changes in mobility patterns in response to COVID-19 and define similarities in urban transportation resilience. For this purpose COVID-19 – Community Mobility Reports were used. Results show that work-related mobility was the most influenced in the long term. Bigger cities needed more time to revert to pre-pandemic level. During the first month of lockdown mobility associated with workplaces as well as grocery and pharmacy presented similar decrease. The biggest decrease characterises mobility connected with retail and recreation. Although it met pre-pandemic patterns around the summer 2020, it required almost one more year to reduce fluctuations.
... This dataset was utilized in several studies after being shown to be a trustworthy source of data (Fridrisek and Janos 2022;Rahman et al. 2021;Tarkowski et al. 2020). Sganzerla and Kelvin (Martinez and Kelvin 2023) have shown that the mobility data collected and provided by the three largest providers (Apple, Google and Meta) are compatible, allowing conclusions to be drawn on their basis. ...
The impact of population mobility and transportation choices on the environment is significant. Sustainable mobility policies require an understanding of evolving mobility patterns. This study examines global mobility variations across countries using COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports. Employing the k-medoids algorithm and Dynamic Time Warping, we analyzed mobility dynamics. Results reveal diverse changes in population mobility. Around 52 Global North countries exhibit approximately 10% reduction in professional activity-related traffic post-COVID-19. Regarding urban green space mobility, only 29 countries exhibit strong seasonality, with summer traffic in the northern hemisphere peaking at about 150% higher than winter traffic. Three groups of countries are identified concerning public transport mobility: returning to pre-pandemic levels, experiencing a 25% increase, and nearly doubling from pre-pandemic levels. This underscores the key determinants for sustainable mobility policy implementation. Fifteen highly developed countries share similar mobility patterns across six areas studied, facilitating the exchange of sustainable mobility solutions and best practices. This research underscores the importance of understanding and addressing evolving mobility patterns for effective environmental policy planning.
... The restrictions and strategies adopted to cope with COVID-19 produced significant adjustments to infrastructure and transportation operations around the world (Fridrisek and Janos, 2022;Kamga and Eickemeyer, 2021) e.g., Latin American countries experienced varied restrictions from the total closure or up to restrictions in occupancy, but all countries had reductions of up to 50 % in public transport use at the beginning of the pandemic (Pardo et al., 2021). The reduction in traffic volume had positive impacts on the air quality worldwide (Liu et al., 2021), but negative consequences on the quality of life of people (De Vos, 2020) and the finances of different public transport systems. ...
The scientific community recognizes that the transport of cargo and passengers is a key factor in the spread of
infectious disease pandemics. In particular, during the COVID-19 pandemic, public transport systems have been
considered high-risk environments for the transmission of the virus; therefore, in many places around the world,
restrictions have been imposed on passenger transport. Although different aspects of transport have been studied
during the pandemic, there are still gaps in knowledge about the effect of different means of transport and
specific interventions for vehicle design strategies to reduce transmission rates. In this context, this article
presents the process of co-designing a flexible partition to divide seats on articulated, standard and complementary vehicles of a bus rapid transit system in a Colombian capital city as a vehicle design strategy to contain
the spread of the virus and generate a physical barrier when the physical distance of one meter, as required by
national regulations, was unable to be maintained. The design methodology followed an incremental and iterative process of 6 stages until reaching the final design. The process began with the identification of the need, the
establishment of the design requirements and determinants, the generation of proposals framed within the requirements, the performance of functionality and cost feasibility tests and the building of the prototype with the
chosen design. Additionally, a participatory evaluation was carried out based on the identification of relevant
aspects, doubts, criticisms and new contributions to the prioritized prototype. Finally, the generated prototype
met the design requirements in addition to a significant cost reduction of 70% compared with the initial proposal
by the bus rapid transit. The low cost allows the implementation of the partition throughout the bus fleet, but
controlled observational and clinical studies on the effectiveness of the partition in the prevention of COVID-19
are required.
... There were recommendations or recommendations to stay at home temporarily. At the same time, 16 countries reintroduced controls at land borders, banning or at least restricting international traffic (Fridrisek, Janos, 2022). ...
The aim of the study is to assess the scope of the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the rail transport market in Europe. To this end, both the passenger and freight transport market were analysed. The period under study covers the years 2019-2022. The COVID-19 epidemic has affected all European countries; and this extends to the demand and supply side of all modes of transport, including rail transport. Restrictions implemented in various areas of economic activity caused Railways to lose a significant part of their passengers. In 2020, the number of passenger-kilometres decreased by an average of 48% compared to 2019. Countries such as Ireland and the United Kingdom saw the biggest change (a decrease of 65%). With regard to the transport of cargo by rail, the scale of the restrictions was already significantly smaller. As a result, the volume of transport performance expressed in tonne-kilometres decreased in 2020 by 7% compared to 2019. The years 2021-2022 represent the end of the reconstruction of the railway market, where the number of passengers transported by rail and the rate of rail use increased significantly and widely. Countries such as Germany, Spain and France have taken initiatives to promote public transport, mainly railways. For the further development of rail transport, it is necessary to continuously improve the quality of services, reduce journey times, improve the accessibility of modern rolling stock and integrate rail with other regional, urban and suburban rail networks and other modes of transport.
... These measures were necessary to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, which was a problem for people who must leave for work or buy basic food. The best way to prevent and slow down the transmission of COVID-19 is to follow three basic rules: cover your nose and mouth with a mask, wash and disinfect your hands, and keep safe distances to limit the spread [7]. From the available literature, we are unaware of any research focusing on the factors influencing travel mode choice of a sample of people from two countries. ...
At the beginning of 2020 there was a spinning point in the travel behavior of people around the world because of the pandemic and its consequences. This paper analyzes the specific behavior of travelers commuting to work or school during the COVID-19 pandemic based on a sample of 2000 respondents from two countries. We obtained data from an online survey, applying multinomial regression analysis. The results demonstrate the multinomial model with an accuracy of almost 70% that estimates the most used modes of transport (walking, public transport, car) based on independent variables. The respondents preferred the car as the most frequently used means of transport. However, commuters without car prefer public transport to walking. This prediction model could be a tool for planning and creating transport policy, especially in exceptional cases such as the limitation of public transport activities. Therefore, predicting travel behavior is essential for policymaking based on people’s travel needs.
... The studies agree that public transport (PT) has become a less preferred mode of travel than before the pandemic, especially due to fears of contagion by the new type of coronavirus (see e.g. Awad-Núñez et al., 2021;Carrese et al., 2021;Corazza et al. 2021;Corazza & Musso, 2021;Fridrisek & Janos, 2022;Gkiotsalitis & Cats, 2021, Tirachini & Cats, 20202020. In addition to a considerable part of trips not taking place at all and work shifting online, there was also a shift from public transport to individual travel modes, i.e., car transport, walking and cycling (Brůhová Foltýnová & Brůha, 2022;Bucsky, 2020;Das et al., 2021;Przybylowski, Stelmak, & Suchanek, 2021). ...
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the transport sector has faced new challenges connected with decreasing use of public transport and passengers' concerns about possible contagion. Using focus groups and data collection by telephone interviews during the different phases of the pandemic, we investigated passengers' current concerns connected with public transport and what measures would help alleviate their fear of using it again.
Our findings show that the pandemic has amplified passengers' sensitivity to phenomena they perceived negatively already before the pandemic, such as overcrowded vehicles, odours, or inadequate cleaning of vehicles. An appeal to people's own responsibility, appropriate communication by key institutions, increasing sanitation standards and promotion of contactless services are crucial for a safe travel feeling during and after the pandemic. The technological solutions, such as cashless payments, real-time-information for adequate guidance of users, more sophisticated ventilation systems etc. gained even more significance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In spite of various measures taken in the PT system, users reduced their PT trips substantially. The fear of COVID-19 contagion has been one of the reasons, although the fear of PT use has not been greater than the fear of contagion in other situations, such as shopping. One of the reasons for passengers´ decline was also the PT service reduction in frequency or number of connections. On the other hand, PT operators have been exposed to an enormous pressure to ensure sanitary requirements and had to overcome economic shortages due to a decreased demand and increased costs, so they had to find a viable balance between a necessary supply and safe operation during the COVID-19 waves.
The study brings an overview of measures and changes in PT demand and gives a complex view on the development of attitudes and experience with PT use in the Czech Republic during the different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results bring recommendations to PT providers, transport authorities and other institutions dealing with mobility and public health. Implementation of such measures can minimize the risk of contagion by COVID-19 or other respiratory infections and will help further development of public transport as a sustainable transport mode in the post-pandemic era.
... Apart from the usual influencing factors, the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on public transport demand as the passenger volumes dropped well below the average estimated values. During several different phases, the mobility needs of the passengers were significantly reduced and evolved with different amount of movement restrictions [9]. As the return to the public transport may seem somewhat slow, there are several phenomena regarding the transport demand that seems to prevail after the restrictions are over. ...
The paper describes several characteristics of transport demand in regional passenger transport and its changes over certain periods of day and week in post-pandemical time with respect to different public transportpublic transport evaluation modes. With the transport survey conducted in October 2021 in the Lovosice Area, Czech Republic, the demand characteristics such as the extent of the morning and afternoon peak hourspeak hour are demonstrated. In the first part, the daily variationdaily variation for a standard workday in the network’s busiest section is analyzed. In the following part, weekly variationweekly variation for working days is discussed. The paper is concluded with the regional and seasonal specifics of the weekly passenger variation during weekends.
... Public transportation (PT) was affected by the pandemic in more serious manner. Many passengers stopped using PT temporarily or permanently (Fridrisek and Janos, 2022;Tirachini and Cats, 2020;Wielechowski et al., 2020). The drop in the number of PT users was more significant than in other modes, especially cars (Eisenmann et al., 2021). ...
... Funding PT may be problematic if ridership does not increase again (either naturally or through lower occupancy rules should the pandemic return). Reducing service frequency or increasing fares could have a very negative impact and further limit the functionality of PT (Fridrisek and Janos, 2022;Vickerman, 2021). This would be a huge step backwards on the case study route Prague-Pilsen, where modernisation was very expensive to ensure high service quality (Surmařová et al., 2022). ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many aspects of our everyday lives. Governments have taken numerous measures to contain the spread of the pandemic, which has had a direct impact on daily mobility, modal choice and the function of public transport. This study uses quantitative and qualitative data to describe how the pandemic influenced travel on the Prague-Pilsen (Praha-Plzeň) railway line. The results of the case study on the Prague-Pilsen railway line are consistent with experiences in other countries. 38% decrease in passenger numbers was found between 2019 and 2020. Although numbers are increasing again, they still have not reached the pre-pandemic level. The number of connections has also decreased by a third on average (2019 to 2020). We also conducted in-depth interviews with train passengers on the above-mentioned route. Two-thirds of passengers stated that the frequency of their journeys had not been affected by the pandemic. However, like the other participants, they described other changes caused by the pandemic. Fear of infection played an important role, and the inconvenience of overcrowding was mentioned several times. The switch from buses to trains was mentioned, as was the fact that more and more travellers prefer to travel first class. In some cases, changes in the temporality of trips were also documented. The survey suggests that respondents travel less frequently by train for systematic, functional, health or social reasons.
... In the Czech Republic, various studies on the development of mobility were carried out in terms of, for example, the requirements of rapid mobility [40]. Another article focused on the assessment of regional public transport and an overview of mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic [41]. The characteristics of travel behavior among users of shared scooters and bicycles were also carried out in Poland, where the results showed that the public preferred shared bicycles as a mode of transport in terms of price and safety [42]. ...
The situation of the COVID-19 pandemic has had enormous social and economic impacts and has significantly affected the modal split. Many cities worldwide have adopted various blocking policies that affect how people travel. Micromobility systems, such as scooters and bicycle sharing, were among the transport systems affected by COVID-19. Electric scooters and shared bicycles provide comfortable and fast first-/last-mile connections for short-distance rides. The shared nature of these modes, together with the spread COVID-19, has contributed to the declining use of these services. The quantification of the impact of COVID-19 on shared services was demonstrated by this research through various mathematical methods. Satisfaction with the use of alternative modes of transport during the pandemic was determined based on the evaluation of a questionnaire survey. Independence tests of qualitative features and statistically significant associations that were demonstrated with a correspondence analysis were used for comparison. The main conclusion of the research was to point out the reasons for the preference for alternative modes of transport and to highlight the impacts on health and fears of contracting COVID-19 when using micromobility services.
... Gioda (2021) performs a uniform two-dimensional interpersonal distancing among train passengers, i.e., the distancing criteria does not contemplate passengers' immunization status, infection intensity at different cities, interaction hours (∆T ), etc. Haque and Hamid (2022) propose one-dimensional interpersonal distancing between passengers, with the gap between them determined solely by the level of infection at their boarding stations. Fridrisek and Janos (2021) and 85 Hörcher et al. (2022) investigate the influence of travel environment (vehicle occupancy) and demand management strategies on interpersonal distancing in public transport, respectively. Hörcher et al. (2022) also demonstrate that employing multiple strategies simultaneously aids in controlling the spatial and temporal occupancy. ...
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had a significant impact on rail operations worldwide. Adopting control measures such as a 50% occupancy rate can contribute to a safer travel environment, though at the expense of operational efficiency. This paper addresses the issues of social distancing and revenue maximization for a train operating company in a post-pandemic world. Although the two objectives appear to be highly contradictory, we believe that judicious planning can optimize both to a great extent. Existing research on social distancing on public transport has only considered the risk of virus transmission during travel. This is the first attempt to recognize the risk of virus spread in different cities along with transmission risk as part of developing a social distancing plan. We study the problem of assigning seats to passenger groups on long-distance trains while ensuring social distancing within coaches. A novel seating assignment policy is proposed that takes into account several factors that govern the spread of virus. In an effort to reduce the spread of the virus and improve revenue simultaneously, a mixed-integer programming (MIP) model is proposed to assign seats to passengers. Several families of valid inequalities and preprocessing steps are proposed to strengthen the MIP formulation, which represents a substantial contribution to the literature on group seat assignment problem. The validity of the model and the effectiveness of the valid inequalities have been evaluated using real-life data from Indian Railways. The computational results demonstrate a significant reduction in the risk of contagion and an increase in seat utilization compared to the current approach employed by operators.
