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Research
Joonmo Cho
Sungkyunkwan University
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5972-1043
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Background: With the spread of the coronavirus worldwide, a principal policy implemented by nations was restrictions on movement of people. The effect of governments’ mobility restriction measures has been analyzed after the COVID-19 outbreak. However, there is lack of studies on the impact of voluntary restriction that significantly affects the decrease of the mobility. This research aims to analyze mass transportation use after the COVID-19 outbreak by age group to explore how the fear of infection affected the public transit system.
Methods: Mass transportation big data of Seoul Metro transportation use in the capital city of South Korea was employed for a panel analysis. To control the environmental characteristics of each district of Seoul Metropolitan City, the fixed-effect model was employed.
Results: The analysis results showed that in both the period of the highest infections and the period of the lowest infection of COVID-19, users aged 65 and over reduced subway use more than people aged between 20 and 64. The decrease of subway use caused by the sharp increase of COVID-19 cases was the most prominent among people aged 65 and over. The elasticity of change of subway use demand to change in cases in Seoul was about 0.08 for people aged 65 and over, higher than 0.06 for people aged between 20 and 64.
Conclusion: The voluntary restrictions driven by fear of the COVID-19 infection have led to the decrease of public transit demand in Seoul. Although the subway use demand decreased both in the age group of 20 to 64 and the age group of people 65 and older, the elderly responded more sensitively to COVID-19. The results suggest that the fear of COVID-19 pandemic varies with age. It seems that the elderly’s higher death rate from COVID-19 has significantly impacted their behavioral change. This study imply that the elder’s fear of infection has affected their daily lives, consumption, and production activities and their mobility using public transportation.
Keywords
COVID-19, fear of infection, social distancing, free tickets for the aged, subway use demand
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This is a preprint. It has not completed peer review.
Research
Joonmo Cho
Sungkyunkwan University
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5972-1043
Badges
Prescreen
This manuscript passed our Prescreen assessment
Complete author information
Appropriate declaration statements
Potential risks to human health
Prescreen
History
CURRENT STATUS: Posted
Version 1
Posted 02 Mar, 2021
No community comments so far
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Background: With the spread of the coronavirus worldwide, a principal policy implemented by nations was restrictions on movement of people. The effect of governments’ mobility restriction measures has been analyzed after the COVID-19 outbreak. However, there is lack of studies on the impact of voluntary restriction that significantly affects the decrease of the mobility. This research aims to analyze mass transportation use after the COVID-19 outbreak by age group to explore how the fear of infection affected the public transit system.
Methods: Mass transportation big data of Seoul Metro transportation use in the capital city of South Korea was employed for a panel analysis. To control the environmental characteristics of each district of Seoul Metropolitan City, the fixed-effect model was employed.
Results: The analysis results showed that in both the period of the highest infections and the period of the lowest infection of COVID-19, users aged 65 and over reduced subway use more than people aged between 20 and 64. The decrease of subway use caused by the sharp increase of COVID-19 cases was the most prominent among people aged 65 and over. The elasticity of change of subway use demand to change in cases in Seoul was about 0.08 for people aged 65 and over, higher than 0.06 for people aged between 20 and 64.
Conclusion: The voluntary restrictions driven by fear of the COVID-19 infection have led to the decrease of public transit demand in Seoul. Although the subway use demand decreased both in the age group of 20 to 64 and the age group of people 65 and older, the elderly responded more sensitively to COVID-19. The results suggest that the fear of COVID-19 pandemic varies with age. It seems that the elderly’s higher death rate from COVID-19 has significantly impacted their behavioral change. This study imply that the elder’s fear of infection has affected their daily lives, consumption, and production activities and their mobility using public transportation.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
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