The transformation of travel habits in domestic intercity bus transport due to the pandemic
Abstract
We thought that - after 5 years - enough time had passed since the pandemic crisis to look back on the effects mentioned in the title. The COVID-19 pandemic and restrictive measures introduced by the state as a result of it forcedly changed the travel habits of citizens using public transport in Hungary (also). Public service enterprises had to take quick and effective measures in order to preserve their economic stability. From today’s perspective, it can be concluded that the enterprises
acted according to the situation and their operation was not collapsed due to the crisis caused by the unknown disease in their operation. To understand the changes in passenger behaviour and the transformation of travel habits caused by the pandemic, we used qualitative and quantitative research methods for the first three years. The qualitative research was conducted in the form of in-depth interviews with the managers of 5 companies with intercity public service contracts, while the quantitative data collection involved the collection of 330 responses to a questionnaire survey. The result show a signicifanct decrease in passenger numbers and loss of revenue for intercity public bus transport in the first three years, including the social policy fare subsidy. Despite the preventive precautions taken by the service providers, the confidence of intercity bus transport has decreased significantly, and in parallel, individual modes of transport (own car, bicycle, walking) have strengthened. At the same time, looking back to recent events, it can also be stated that it took only 3 years to restore the previous passenger numbers, and in fact, today (although primarily with the introduction of tariffs and fares, their validity aspects and area-based passes) it has even been exceeded.
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