Mobilty is an essential social need, but our routines changed quickly during the extraordinary situation presented by the coronavirus, when many people rarely left their houses.
75% of the German population expects a long-term reduction in traffic as a result of digitalization.
Not only did COVID-19 slow us down substantially, but it also led to a decline in the amount of traffic and had a considerable impact on the use of various modes of transport. According to the latest results of a study conducted by the Wuppertal Institute and Ernst & Young (EY) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, passenger traffic will decline by 8 percent over the long term. Rather than commuting and going on business trips people will instead work from home and hold virtual meetings.
To what extent can this phase be used to have a positive influence on the impact of traffic on the environment? The ongoing digitalization and electrification of urban transport systems, the development of new business models and the change in mobility behavior offers enormous opportunities to use the coronavirus as an accelerator of the changes to urban mobility that were already necessary.
Of all modes of transportation, local public transport is the big loser of the coronavirus crisis. During the exceptional situation presented by the crisis, the number of passengers riding buses and trains in the world’s major cities has plummeted by up to 90 percent. Public transportation not only faces the problem of substantially fewer customers, but it must also ensure that social distancing and hygiene rules are followed. Lars Wagner, the spokesman for the Association of German Transport Companies, says: “If we have the same number of passengers at peak times and require them to maintain a minimum distance of 1.5 meters from one another, then we’d need four times more trains and buses than we currently deploy.”
Read the full article on EY
Author: Carmen Maria Sprus
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