Empirical study of covid-19’s influence on travel behavior in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The objective of this study is to explore the impact of COVID-19 on travel behavior (TB) including mode choice, travel frequency and travel distance) in Sri Lanka (SL). Further, the study investigates changes in TB in terms of socio-economic characteristics of travelers. The data were collected from online surveys (N=496). Descriptive statistics, boxplot charts, Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) were applied to analysis. The study found a remarkable reduction in travel frequency, distance, and public transport mode share during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, results indicated that social-economic factors such as age, income, vehicle ownership, and type of job significantly influenced those changes. Furthermore, results indicated that travel behavior changes due to COVID-19 have been significantly influenced by socio-economic characteristics of travelers and their level of protection motivation in three stages of the pandemic first wave (Before March 2020), after first wave (March-May, May-September) and second wave (September-Today onwards). The findings of this study will make a significant contribution to the transport planning and management in general, and especially in SL, during the pandemic and/or new‐normal situation. The key findings of the study can be incorporated to solve. possible transport concerns in a new‐normal situation and any future pandemic situation.