A mixed-methods analysis of mobility behavior changes in the COVID-19 era in a rural case study

Abstract

Background As a reaction to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), countries around the globe have implemented various measures to reduce the spread of the virus. The transportation sector is particularly affected by the pandemic situation. The current study aims to contribute to the empirical knowledge regarding the effects of the coronavirus situation on the mobility of people by (1) broadening the perspective to the mobility rural area’s residents and (2) providing subjective data concerning the perceived changes of affected persons’ mobility practices, as these two aspects have scarcely been considered in research so far. Methods To address these research gaps, a mixed-methods study was conducted that integrates a qualitative telephone interview study (N = 15) and a quantitative household survey (N = 301). The rural district of Altmarkkreis Salzwedel in Northern Germany was chosen as a model region. Results The results provide in-depth insights into the changing mobility practices of residents of a rural area during the legal restrictions to stem the spread of the virus. A high share of respondents (62.6%) experienced no changes in their mobility behavior due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation. However, nearly one third of trips were also cancelled overall. A modal shift was observed towards the reduction of trips by car and bus, and an increase of trips by bike. The share of trips by foot was unchanged. The majority of respondents did not predict strong long-term effects of the corona pandemic on their mobility behavior.

Six lessons from first year COVID-19 restrictions: what can we do better in the future?

“…During the lockdown period in Spain, mobility to workplace dropped by 80%, compared to pre-COVID-19 trends [5]. The changes, however, less apparent in rural areas [4,17] and also can be seasonal, in particular, due to the start and stop of school season [2]. In Germany, Kolarova et al [16] found that travellers during the lockdown period switched to unimodal travel mode, e.g.…”

“…Furthermore the impacts of the measurements towards Covid19 are also different across household members. Male, in particular the ones of productive ages (40-60 s) and/or employed are the ones who still are likely to travel, 30-40% more than others, whilst elderly and women are the ones who have been reducing their travel to a greater extent [8,17]. The reasons why women are more negatively impacted by COVID-19 restrictions may not only be because they are taking a greater responsibility for the inner household chores, such as taking care of children when schools are forced to close, but also that the type of industries that has a high share of female workers, e.g.…”

“…At the same time, there are also long commuters who see the COVID-19 travel restrictions as a blessing in disguise because they can spend more time with their family (e.g. [17]). Furthermore, a study among a number of civil servant agencies in Sweden shows that women and older civil servants are happier with teleworking than their fellow civil servants [14].…”

“…Whilst there have been a lot of studies on the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions on transport and mobility, there have not been much a reflection on how we can do better if another pandemic strike in the future, and this is the objective of this editorial article. Based on the evidences drawn upon 11 papers from select European countries, which investigated wide range issues, from the readiness of port-state control inspection procedure [1], the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions to the work and travel patterns of civil servants in Sweden [14], the impacts of inter personal distance towards the sustainability operation of public transport in Italy [12], the willingness to pay to use the public transport and shared services given the COVID-19 circumstances in Spain [5], and the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions to travel and spatial movement patterns and trade-off behaviours of urban and rural residents in Germany [4, [16][17][18], Greece [26], Italy, India and Sweden [2, 8], there are common learned lessons that can serve as a guidelines on how we can deal with the disruptions better in the future.…”

Interfacing vector-borne disease dynamics with climate change: Implications for the attainment of SDGs in Masvingo city, Zimbabwe

“…A mixed-methods design that combined both quantitative and qualitative methods (König & Dreßler 2021) was used for this study. This approach connects and embeds the data and is generally regarded as a more comprehensive way of integrating all aspects of a programme of inquiry (Tashakkori & Creswell 2007).…”