Exploring the traveler group-based ridership fluctuations before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: A case study of rail transit system in Izmir

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted life around the world. Situations such as the transition of schools to remote education, remote working, and people's fear of becoming infected have had a strong impact on public transport ridership. In this article, rail transit systems ridership data were utilized to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the travel behaviour of adults, students and elderly people for the city of Izmir, Turkey. The rail transit system included one mass rapid transit (MRT) and two light rapid transit (LRT) lines. Due to operational differences of rail transit systems, the analyses were carried out for the ridership of each mode separately. Within the scope of the study, user-based descriptive statistics were determined, and ridership changes were investigated before, during and after the pandemic. The statistical significance in ridership fluctuations were evaluated via one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. The results showed that the pandemic had a negative impact on ridership on all lines and all groups of travelers. Student ridership increased with the opening of schools after pandemic while travel behaviour of elderly groups were permanently changed after COVID-19.