The COVID-19 Mark on Urban Mobility : A Tale of Two Cities’ Journey to Recovery

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly changed mobility patterns in the Bogotá and Buenos Airesmetropolitan areas, as shown by the differences between the October 2019, 2020, and 2021 indicator values derived fromcall detail record–based origin-destination matrices. The differences between 2019 and 2020 were more notable thanbetween 2019 and 2021 on most mobility indicators, demonstrating a reversal of the pre-pandemic mobilityhabits. However, by late 2021, the return to pre-pandemic levels was still very partial in the case of publictransport use (especially so in Buenos Aires), while in Bogotá the pandemic appeared to have induced a permanent—andincreasing—shift to nonmotorized modes. Other mobility indicators that appear to have changed more permanently inBogotá include the lower average distances traveled and the relatively higher importance of non-home-based mobility. Inthe Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area, the key persistent changes include the lower overall trip generation rates andspecifically peak-hour travel, and the higher relative weight of travel to work and school compared to other travelpurposes. These findings are partly explained by the underlying policy and regulatory context in the two citiesand are relevant for designing transport policy in the post-pandemic context, including in terms of publictransport route and schedule planning, cycleway network expansion, and, more broadly, the leveraging of big data asa complement to traditional mobility surveys.