In the first half of 2020, the global pandemic of the COVID-19 virus became a phenomenon affecting all spheres of human life. Measures against the spread of the virus have led to restrictions in life in public spaces and have also affected the transport sector. These impacts consisted of two types - firstly, the number of connections was reduced due to a drop in transport demand, and secondly, it was necessary to comply with hygiene measures on the part of carriers and passengers. The impacts of these measures could be monitored at all spatial levels, from global to local. This paper deals with the course of the so-called first wave of the pandemic in the Czech Republic in relation to public transport and its organization. The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of these measures in relation to general government regulations and their subsequent implementation at the national, regional (county) and local (selected large cities) level. Furthermore, the paper uses three case studies to show what changes long-distance domestic transport has undergone on selected routes. There was a significant reduction in the number of long-distance connections, some lines were not operated at all, and of course, all cross-border connections were canceled. The paper covers the period from the turn of February and March 2020, when the measures began to take effect, to the end of May 2020, when almost all the adopted measures were gradually relaxed. The paper concludes with a summary of the basic features of the organization of transport during the validity of the special measures, as well as areas where significant changes took place and whose consequences may persist after the pandemic subsides.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many aspects of our everyday lives. Governments have taken numerous measures to contain the spread of the pandemic, which has had a direct impact on daily mobility, modal choice and the function of public transport. This study uses quantitative and qualitative data to describe how the pandemic influenced travel on the Prague-Pilsen (Praha-Plzeň) railway line. The results of the case study on the Prague-Pilsen railway line are consistent with experiences in other countries. 38% decrease in passenger numbers was found between 2019 and 2020. Although numbers are increasing again, they still have not reached the pre-pandemic level. The number of connections has also decreased by a third on average (2019 to 2020). We also conducted in-depth interviews with train passengers on the above-mentioned route. Two-thirds of passengers stated that the frequency of their journeys had not been affected by the pandemic. However, like the other participants, they described other changes caused by the pandemic. Fear of infection played an important role, and the inconvenience of overcrowding was mentioned several times. The switch from buses to trains was mentioned, as was the fact that more and more travellers prefer to travel first class. In some cases, changes in the temporality of trips were also documented. The survey suggests that respondents travel less frequently by train for systematic, functional, health or social reasons.
hosted the fourth annual meeting of transport geographers from the Czech Republic and Slovakia on October 11 and 12, 2018. The Transport Geography Workshop is a regularly occurring event held every two years by a different academic workplace. The workshop takes the form of an informal platform through which participants are acquainted with current events in the field of Czech and Slovak transport geography. The focus of the workshop is actually in line with current discussions about the present and the future of our discipline, which are taking place at other levels as well, see, for example, current texts in the key journal
The book Geography of Barriers: Examples of Good Barrier-free Practice offers a collection of texts that are interested in making space, services, and information accessible. Thus, the collection is primarily about barriers, their nature, localization, and possible effects. Under barriers, most people imagine material barriers for wheelchair users in the form of steps or sidewalk curbs. Only a few would think that barriers can be represented by loosely placed rugs, unfit lighting, large glass surface, a doorbell without visual output, unwanted attention, frequent asking and offering help, lack of language knowledge, pity, etc. Thus, the book broadens awareness of what can be considered a barrier. The texts are divided into three parts – theoretical, methodic, and empirical – and their arrangement follows the logic of thematic focusing from the most general to the most concrete types of barriers. While the theoretical part places the policies of accessibility into the wider context of scientific disciplines and their development – such as disability studies, disability geography or service design, the methodic part discusses the introduction of accessibility policies in the city of Brno, describing how it tried to make its space, services, and information more accessible. Finally, the empirical part offers 18 examples of relatively good barrier-free implementations that have been recently realized in Brno. This division reflects an effort to target several groups of readers. The first part thus addresses mainly students interested in accessibility issues, the second, methodic part is intended for politicians and municipalities searching for inspiration to implement their own accessibility measures and policies. The last part stating concrete examples of good barrier-free implementations is aimed at general public, at people who like to think about a whole range of topics related to accessibility of space, services, and information.
The ninth chapter presents Examples of good practice for the creation of accessible urban space, which have been practiced by multiple actors in Brno city under specific circumstances and which can serve as inspiration and motivation for other municipalities in their barrier-free policies and practice. While being the source for inspiration can be their principal goal, another goal is to archive the good practice. The authors start the chapter defining themselves against methods guidelines for barrier-free space; methods are introduced as a certain conceptual tool for strict, systematic and universal creation of barrier-free/accessible space, which can be too binding and less open to eventual changes. On the other hand, Examples of good practice represent a different approach, open to eventual developments, unexpected phenomena and trying to inspire for creation of accessible space everywhere and every time, in pragmatic, unprecedented and diverse ways. As has been indicated above, Methods guides for barrier-free space can be bound by three universalities, which usually prevent experimenting and creativity. Examples of good practice aim to inspire and incent creativity, and thus represent a universal “will” to be creative, unhinged and active. Each example consists of several parts: Illustrative story presenting the barriers and related pitfalls by describing the original situation and the need for intervention; Analysis concentrating on the pitfalls; Suggested solution with a discussion; a Concrete realization in Brno city, showing the concrete process of dealing with the so-far describe accessibility; then Solution limits are presented; Conclusion, which offers insight for future application, and Time axis outlining the whole process from a chronological perspective. Each Example is also documented by photographs showing the original state full of barriers and pitfalls, and the state when a chosen solution has been realized.
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