Within the framework of this paper an attempt is made to investigate the impacts of the economic crisis on the urban road freight transport sector, having as a case study the city of Thessaloniki, the second biggest city in Greece. To this end, a questionnaire-based survey is performed in order to collect relevant data from local carriers and forwarders with respect to the effects of the economic crisis they experienced and the measures they adopted and implemented in order to tackle them. In addition, the paper also includes the findings of a SWOT analysis, which enables the formation of strategies for overcoming the problems that have been identified and exploiting the opportunities raised.
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization made the assessment that a new disease (COVID-19) caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) could be characterized as a pandemic. From that point, a chain reaction of events and difficult decisions requiring action was launched. National governments all over the world announced partial or total quarantine lockdowns in an effort to control the virus’ spreading in order to save as many lives as possible. The effects of the pandemic were multifaceted and transport was not excluded. The current paper examines data regarding the level of usage (provided by the administrator) of bike-sharing systems in three case studies/medium-sized Greek cities (Igoumenitsa, Chania, and Rhodes) and through a statistical analysis identifies if there is a correlation between the implemented measures and the modal choice of the residents. The main results and conclusions of this analysis reveal that the level of usage of these specific bike-sharing systems was significantly increased during the lockdown period compared to the situation before the lockdown and the pandemic in general.
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