COVID-19 and public transport: insights from Belgium (Brussels), Estonia (Tallinn), Germany (Berlin, Dresden, Munich), and Sweden (Stockholm)

As we are submitting this report in December 2020, COVID-19 has had a complex and multifaceted effect on public transport (PT) and its use. The emergence of the virus altered both who used PT and how these users experienced their journeys. This study  complicates the fear-focused narrative that often framed PT during the COVID-19 crisis. It highlights diverse experiences of PT, which yet are often socially unequal.

This report details the design and outcome of a multi-sited study investigating PT during the initial months  of  the  COVID-19  pandemic.  The  study  began  in  March  2020  as  part  of  PUTSPACE,  an international  research  project  supported  by  the  Humanities  in  the  European  Research  Area (HERA).  It  consisted  of  an  online  survey  (n=1095)  and  series  of  semi-structured  follow-up interviews (n=49). The survey and interviews solicited information about PT users’ mobility behaviour after the outbreak of COVID-19 as well as their experiences on and perceptions of PT during  the  initial  months  of  the  pandemic.  Responses  came  from  four  geographical  regions; Estonia  (Tallinn),  Sweden  (Stockholm),  Belgium  (Brussels)  and  Germany  (Berlin,  Dresden, Munich). It is significant that most of our insights produced in the survey and interviews echoed similar observations across the studied regions.