Changing travel behavior and the covid pandemic period

The paper illustrates the situation of urban mobility in the pandemic period currently underway linked to COVID-19. The current necessity of social distancing is re-shaping urban transport. In several cities the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is already evident. In some ways, mobility has been downsized following restrictions on travel both in urban and extra-urban contexts. Nevertheless, there are significant changes in travel habits and there are best-practice examples of more virtuous choices from an environmental point of view. The pandemic may be a fly-wheel for sustainable mobility in many polluted urban areas. At the same time we must consider how Covid-19 emergency has accelerated the implementation of “Bike plans”, which aims to increase the share of bike travel, but this traffic revolution has led to an increase in road accidents with pedestrians and cyclists injured. Therefore both sides of the coin must be considered. The paper presents the most recent scientific literature on the subject and analyzes the results of a public opinion survey carried out in Italy on mobility at the time of Covid. Google human mobility dataset is used to track the dynamics of mobility across a wide range of categories (e.g., workplace, retail and recreational activities etc.), while information on country-specific counts of COVID-19 cases and deaths is used as a proxy for the information about the spread of the pandemic available to the population. A detailed index of stringency of the government-imposed social distancing policies in around 100 countries is used as a measure of government response. To complete the statistical information, the opinion poll carried out by the Italian Transport Regulatory Authority is also used. The databases have made it possible to trace a reference framework within which to identify possible correlations among the measures adopted by governments, the behavior of citizens with reference to mobility and the spread of Covid infections. Indications on the strategic choices of transport policy are reported in the concluding part. The analysis methodology is certainly replicable in other geographical areas. Furthermore, these analyses set the stage for further research insights to follow in the future.