IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transa/v172y2023ics096585642300099x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How has COVID-19 changed private car use in European urban areas? An analysis of the effect of socio-economic characteristics and mobility habits

Author

Listed:
  • Vega-Gonzalo, Maria
  • Gomez, Juan
  • Christidis, Panayotis

Abstract

The private car has been identified as the main winner among transport modes in urban areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. The fear of contagion when using public transport or the decrease in road congestion are likely to have induced changes in citizens’ travel habits with respect to cars. This work investigates the impact of the pandemic on individuals’ habits and preferences regarding their car ownership levels and car usage in the European urban context, with a special focus on the role played by individual socio-demographics and urban mobility patterns. For this purpose, a Path Analysis approach has been adopted to model car ownership and use before and after COVID-19. The main data source employed in this research is an EU-Wide Urban Mobility Survey that collects detailed information (individual and household socio-economic characteristics, built environment attributes and mobility habits) of 10,152 individuals from a total of 21 European urban areas of different sizes, geographical locations, and urban forms. The survey data has been complemented with city-level variables that account for differences across the cities that may explain changes in car-related behaviour. The results show that the pandemic has induced an increase in car use among socio-economic groups that are generally associated with low car-dependent behaviour, revealing that policy instruments that discourage the use of the private car in urban areas are needed to avoid reversing past trends in the reduction of urban transport emissions. High-income, well-educated teleworkers are observed to be the ones that have reduced their car use to a larger extent. On the contrary, low-income individuals are mostly maintaining similar levels of car mobility. Finally, frequent public transport users are more likely than occasional users to have substituted this mode by the private car.

Suggested Citation

  • Vega-Gonzalo, Maria & Gomez, Juan & Christidis, Panayotis, 2023. "How has COVID-19 changed private car use in European urban areas? An analysis of the effect of socio-economic characteristics and mobility habits," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:172:y:2023:i:c:s096585642300099x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2023.103679
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096585642300099X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tra.2023.103679?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tim Schwanen & Frans M. Dieleman & Martin Dijst, 2004. "The Impact of Metropolitan Structure on Commute Behavior in the Netherlands: A Multilevel Approach," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 304-333, September.
    2. Basu, Rounaq & Ferreira, Joseph, 2021. "Sustainable mobility in auto-dominated Metro Boston: Challenges and opportunities post-COVID-19," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 197-210.
    3. Élise Labonté-LeMoyne & Shang-Lin Chen & Constantinos K. Coursaris & Sylvain Sénécal & Pierre-Majorique Léger, 2020. "The Unintended Consequences of COVID-19 Mitigation Measures on Mass Transit and Car Use," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-13, November.
    4. Buehler, Ralph, 2011. "Determinants of transport mode choice: a comparison of Germany and the USA," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 644-657.
    5. Cynthia Chen & Hongmian Gong & Robert Paaswell, 2008. "Role of the built environment on mode choice decisions: additional evidence on the impact of density," Transportation, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 285-299, May.
    6. Shaheen, Susan & Guzman, Stacey & Zhang, Hua, 2010. "Bikesharing in Europe, the Americas, and Asia: Past, Present, and Future," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt79v822k5, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    7. Bhat, Chandra R. & Guo, Jessica Y., 2007. "A comprehensive analysis of built environment characteristics on household residential choice and auto ownership levels," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 506-526, June.
    8. Oakil, Abu Toasin Md & Manting, Dorien & Nijland, Hans, 2016. "Determinants of car ownership among young households in the Netherlands: The role of urbanisation and demographic and economic characteristics," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 229-235.
    9. He, Sylvia Y. & Thøgersen, John, 2017. "The impact of attitudes and perceptions on travel mode choice and car ownership in a Chinese megacity: The case of Guangzhou," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 57-67.
    10. Ding, Chuan & Cao, Xinyu, 2019. "How does the built environment at residential and work locations affect car ownership? An application of cross-classified multilevel model," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 37-45.
    11. Matas, Anna & Raymond, Josep-LLuis, 2008. "Changes in the structure of car ownership in Spain," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 187-202, January.
    12. Zhang, Runsen & Zhang, Junyi, 2021. "Long-term pathways to deep decarbonization of the transport sector in the post-COVID world," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 28-36.
    13. Eisenmann, Christine & Nobis, Claudia & Kolarova, Viktoriya & Lenz, Barbara & Winkler, Christian, 2021. "Transport mode use during the COVID-19 lockdown period in Germany: The car became more important, public transport lost ground," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 60-67.
    14. Alfredo Aloi & Borja Alonso & Juan Benavente & Rubén Cordera & Eneko Echániz & Felipe González & Claudio Ladisa & Raquel Lezama-Romanelli & Álvaro López-Parra & Vittorio Mazzei & Lucía Perrucci & Darí, 2020. "Effects of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Urban Mobility: Empirical Evidence from the City of Santander (Spain)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-18, May.
    15. Nolan, Anne, 2010. "A dynamic analysis of household car ownership," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 446-455, July.
    16. Mokhtarian, Patricia L & Koenig, Brett E & Henderson, Dennis K, 1995. "The Travel and Emissions Impacts of Telecommuting for the State of California Telecommuting Pilot Project," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt6rw695kc, University of California Transportation Center.
    17. Lewis Dijkstra & Hugo Poelman & Paolo Veneri, 2019. "The EU-OECD definition of a functional urban area," OECD Regional Development Working Papers 2019/11, OECD Publishing.
    18. Sangho Choo & Patricia Mokhtarian & Ilan Salomon, 2005. "Does telecommuting reduce vehicle-miles traveled? An aggregate time series analysis for the U.S," Transportation, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 37-64, January.
    19. Sungyop Kim & Gudmundur Ulfarsson, 2008. "Curbing automobile use for sustainable transportation: analysis of mode choice on short home-based trips," Transportation, Springer, vol. 35(6), pages 723-737, November.
    20. Ding, Chuan & Wang, Donggen & Liu, Chao & Zhang, Yi & Yang, Jiawen, 2017. "Exploring the influence of built environment on travel mode choice considering the mediating effects of car ownership and travel distance," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 65-80.
    21. Johanna Kopp & Regine Gerike & Kay Axhausen, 2015. "Do sharing people behave differently? An empirical evaluation of the distinctive mobility patterns of free-floating car-sharing members," Transportation, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 449-469, May.
    22. Shen, Qing & Chen, Peng & Pan, Haixiao, 2016. "Factors affecting car ownership and mode choice in rail transit-supported suburbs of a large Chinese city," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 31-44.
    23. Kim, Seung-Nam & Choo, Sangho & Mokhtarian, Patricia L., 2015. "Home-based telecommuting and intra-household interactions in work and non-work travel: A seemingly unrelated censored regression approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 197-214.
    24. Dargay, Joyce & Gately, Dermot, 1999. "Income's effect on car and vehicle ownership, worldwide: 1960-2015," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 101-138, February.
    25. Clewlow, Regina R., 2016. "Carsharing and sustainable travel behavior: Results from the San Francisco Bay Area," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 158-164.
    26. Dargay, Joyce M, 2001. "The effect of income on car ownership: evidence of asymmetry," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 807-821, November.
    27. Joyce Dargay & Dermot Gately & Martin Sommer, 2007. "Vehicle Ownership and Income Growth, Worldwide: 1960-2030," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 143-170.
    28. Xinyu Cao & Patricia Mokhtarian & Susan Handy, 2007. "Do changes in neighborhood characteristics lead to changes in travel behavior? A structural equations modeling approach," Transportation, Springer, vol. 34(5), pages 535-556, September.
    29. Marco Dueñas & Mercedes Campi & Luis E. Olmos, 2021. "Changes in mobility and socioeconomic conditions during the COVID-19 outbreak," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    30. Beck, Matthew J. & Hensher, David A., 2020. "Insights into the impact of COVID-19 on household travel and activities in Australia – The early days under restrictions," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 76-93.
    31. Currie, Graham & Jain, Taru & Aston, Laura, 2021. "Evidence of a post-COVID change in travel behaviour – Self-reported expectations of commuting in Melbourne," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 218-234.
    32. Van Acker, Veronique & Witlox, Frank, 2010. "Car ownership as a mediating variable in car travel behaviour research using a structural equation modelling approach to identify its dual relationship," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 65-74.
    33. Shaheen, Susan A & Guzman, Stacey & Zhang, Hua, 2010. "Bikesharing in Europe, the Americas, and Asia: Past, Present and Future," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt6qg8q6ft, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    34. de Abreu e Silva, João & Morency, Catherine & Goulias, Konstadinos G., 2012. "Using structural equations modeling to unravel the influence of land use patterns on travel behavior of workers in Montreal," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1252-1264.
    35. Zhou, Fan & Zheng, Zuduo & Whitehead, Jake & Perrons, Robert K. & Washington, Simon & Page, Lionel, 2020. "Examining the impact of car-sharing on private vehicle ownership," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 322-341.
    36. Joanna Moody & Elizabeth Farr & Marisa Papagelis & David R. Keith, 2021. "The value of car ownership and use in the United States," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 4(9), pages 769-774, September.
    37. Christidis, Panayotis & Navajas Cawood, Elena & Fiorello, Davide, 2022. "Challenges for urban transport policy after the Covid-19 pandemic: Main findings from a survey in 20 European cities," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 105-116.
    38. Panayotis Christidis & Aris Christodoulou & Elena Navajas-Cawood & Biagio Ciuffo, 2021. "The Post-Pandemic Recovery of Transport Activity: Emerging Mobility Patterns and Repercussions on Future Evolution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-17, June.
    39. Dargay, Joyce & Hanly, Mark, 2007. "Volatility of car ownership, commuting mode and time in the UK," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(10), pages 934-948, December.
    40. Elliot Fishman & Simon Washington & Narelle Haworth, 2013. "Bike Share: A Synthesis of the Literature," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(2), pages 148-165, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Abid Al-Akioui & Andres Monzon, 2023. "Spatial Analysis of COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts on Mobility in Madrid Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-18, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Xiaoquan & Yin, Chaoying & Zhang, Junyi & Shao, Chunfu & Wang, Shengyou, 2021. "Nonlinear effects of residential and workplace built environment on car dependence," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    2. Ikezoe, Keigo & Kiriyama, Eriko & Fujimura, Shuzo, 2020. "Car-sharing intention analysis in Japan by comparing the utility of car ownership for car-owners and non-car owners," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 1-14.
    3. Mitra, Suman K. & Saphores, Jean-Daniel M., 2017. "Carless in California: Green choice or misery?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 1-12.
    4. Ikezoe, Keigo & Kiriyama, Eriko & Fujimura, Shuzo, 2021. "Analysis of car ownership motivation in Tokyo for sustainable mobility service and urban development," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1-14.
    5. Ding, Chuan & Zhou, Xinyu & Jason Cao, Xinyu & Yang, Jiawen, 2023. "Spatial and mediation analysis of the influences of residential and workplace built environments on commuting by car," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    6. Jou, Rong-Chang & Huang, Wen-Hsiu & Wu, Yuan-Chan & Chao, Ming-Che, 2012. "The asymmetric income effect on household vehicle ownership in Taiwan: A threshold cointegration approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 696-706.
    7. Soltani, Ali, 2017. "Social and urban form determinants of vehicle ownership; evidence from a developing country," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 90-100.
    8. Bindong Sun & Tinglin Zhang & Zhou He & Rui Wang, 2017. "Urban Spatial Structure And Motorization In China," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(3), pages 470-486, June.
    9. De Vos, Jonas & Cheng, Long & Kamruzzaman, Md. & Witlox, Frank, 2021. "The indirect effect of the built environment on travel mode choice: A focus on recent movers," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    10. Zhao, Pengjun & Zhang, Yixue, 2018. "Travel behaviour and life course: Examining changes in car use after residential relocation in Beijing," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 41-53.
    11. Sabreena Anowar & Naveen Eluru & Luis F. Miranda-Moreno, 2014. "Alternative Modeling Approaches Used for Examining Automobile Ownership: A Comprehensive Review," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 441-473, July.
    12. Sun, Shan & Guo, Liang & Yang, Shuo & Cao, Jason, 2024. "Exploring the contributions of Ebike ownership, transit access, and the built environment to car ownership in a developing city," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    13. Shen, Qing & Chen, Peng & Pan, Haixiao, 2016. "Factors affecting car ownership and mode choice in rail transit-supported suburbs of a large Chinese city," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 31-44.
    14. Haustein, Sonja & Kroesen, Maarten, 2022. "Shifting to more sustainable mobility styles: A latent transition approach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    15. Pfertner, Maximilian & Büttner, Benjamin & Duran-Rodas, David & Wulfhorst, Gebhard, 2022. "Workplace relocation and its association with car availability and commuting mode choice," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    16. Altieri, Marcelo & Silva, Cecília & Terabe, Shintaro, 2020. "Give public transit a chance: A comparative analysis of competitive travel time in public transit modal share," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    17. Kühne, Kathrin & Mitra, Suman K. & Saphores, Jean-Daniel M., 2018. "Without a ride in car country – A comparison of carless households in Germany and California," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 24-40.
    18. Ding, Chuan & Cao, Xinyu, 2019. "How does the built environment at residential and work locations affect car ownership? An application of cross-classified multilevel model," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 37-45.
    19. Ding, Chuan & Wang, Donggen & Liu, Chao & Zhang, Yi & Yang, Jiawen, 2017. "Exploring the influence of built environment on travel mode choice considering the mediating effects of car ownership and travel distance," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 65-80.
    20. Ding, Yu & Lu, Huapu, 2016. "Activity participation as a mediating variable to analyze the effect of land use on travel behavior: A structural equation modeling approach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 23-28.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:172:y:2023:i:c:s096585642300099x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/547/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.