Submission ID 103726
| Session Title | TP - Innovations in Transportation Analysis and Modelling |
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| Title | A Comparative Study of the Post-COVID Travel Behavior for Canadian Cities |
| Abstract or description | Background and ObjectivesThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused massive alterations in the lifestyle of millions of people, particularly in individual mobility patterns. This study aims to perform a comparative analysis of changes in people's travel behavior in the post-pandemic era across multiple Canadian cities. The study focuses on the changes in travel activity purpose, both physical and virtual work arrangement, and shopping behaviour, mode, and destination choices and how these changes vary across Canadian cities.
MethodsDalhousie Transportation Collaboratory (DalTRAC) has already launched a 24-hour, typical weekday travel activity survey in several Canadian cities, including Halifax, Moncton, and Calgary. This survey gathers information about people's households, socioeconomics, lifestyles, and travel activities. The study follows a multi-instrument approach including online submissions, phone interviews, and mail-in responses for collecting and storing data. The survey introduces social media-based sampling in addition to other widely used sampling approaches such as landline address- and cellphone-based sampling. Based on the survey data, this study will explore qualitative and quantitative methods and statistical modelling techniques for developing a comparative analysis to understand changes in post-COVID travel behavior and activity patterns across the subject Canadian cities. ResultsThis research will make a significant contribution by providing a comprehensive understanding of how people anticipate their daily travel to be in the post-pandemic period in Canada. The statistical analysis will identify the shifts in their travel behaviors and the factors affecting such behaviors. Results will provide a comparison of travel behavior across small, midsize, and large cities in Canada in the post-pandemic world. The findings will also provide insight into the behavioral differences among different cities in Canada based on their land use, mobility options and transportation infrastructure, which will be instrumental in informing transport and climate action policies.
ConclusionsUnderstanding behavioral insights, such as how and to what extent people's travel habits and preferences undergo substantial changes following a huge pandemic event like COVID-19, is vital to making progress towards building a sustainable transportation system. The findings of the study will assist Canadian policymakers and planners to better prepare for the post-pandemic era by designing policies that reflect the population's shifting travel demands and emerging mobilities (e.g., telecommuting, online shopping).
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| Presentation Description (for Conference App) | |
| Presenter and/or Author Information | Ahsan Habib, Dalhousie University
Maisha Ghani, Dalhousie University Atkia Ibnat, Dalhousie University Sagar Bhandari, Dalhousie University |
