Impacts of interpersonal distancing on-board trains during the COVID-19 emergency

Abstract

Introduction The COVID-19 emergency and the cities lockdown have had a strong impact on transport and mobility. In particular, travel demand has registered an unprecedented overall contraction, dramatically dropping down with peaks of - 90%-95% passengers for public transport (PT). During the re-opening phase, demand is gradually resuming the levels before the crisis, although some structural changes are observed in travel behaviour, and containment measures to reduce the risk of contagion are still being applied, affecting transport supply. Objective This paper aims at assessing to what extent keeping a one-meter interpersonal distancing on-board trains is sustainable for public transport companies. Method The analysis is based on travel demand forecasting models applied to two case-studies in Italy: a suburban railway line and a High-speed Rail (HSR) line, differentiated by demand characteristics (e.g. urban vs. ex-urban) and train access system (free access vs. reservation required). Results In the suburban case, the results show the need of new urban policies, not only limited to the transport domain, in order to manage the demand peaks at the stations and on-board vehicles. In the ex-urban case, the outputs suggest the need for public subsidies in order for the railways undertakings to cope with revenue losses and, at the same time, to maintain service quality levels.

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

“…Tirachini and Cats [27] noted that the decline of public transport use during the COVID-19 will lead into a financial crisis for public transportation operators. Just from the capacity reduction due to COVID-19 related measurement, Coppola and de Fabiis [12] estimate the High-Speed-Rail's revenue in Italy declined about 20-60%. Kolarova et al [16] argued that given the changed preferences towards the public transport during the lockdown period, short-term actions aimed at lowering the perceived infection risk by the users is necessary.…”

“…From supply perspective, some of COVID-19 related regulations that need to be implemented in public transport do provide some unexpected challenges. Using a high-speed rail case, Coppola and de Fabiis [12] show that one-meter interpersonal distancing on-board vehicles can be sustainable only with drastic limitations to travels and activities among the population. To cope with the current demand, an increase of line capacity up to 70%-80% is needed, whilst increasing frequency on peak time is not feasible and higher number of coaches per train could result in a train length greater than the length of the station platforms, which is also currently unfeasible.…”

“…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.…”

Riesgos y recomendaciones para viajar seguro durante la pandemia provocada por el virus SARS-CoV-2: México

“…21 Se recomienda viajar en trenes cuyo servicio cuente con reserva de asientos previos al viaje; de lo contrario, los trenes podrían estar abarrotados en un 70 a 80% de su capacidad, lo que aumentaría la densidad de pasajeros y no cumplir con las medidas de distanciamiento interpersonal. 23…”

A brief study of public transportation and sustainable cities management during COVID-19 pandemic

“…Na Itália, segundo país com o maior contágio pela primeira onda fora da China, Coppola ;De Fabiis (2021) destacam que a introdução e efetividade do distanciamento interpessoal no transporte público tem sido uma das medidas mais eficazes de prevenção ao contágio. Segundo Coppola & De Fabiis (2021) a demanda por transporte público na Itália registrou uma contração geral sem precedentes, com reduções de 90% até 95% passageiros, enquanto nas fases de reabertura, a demanda foi gradualmente retomando os níveis anteriores à crise, o que demonstra mudanças estruturais no comportamento das viagens. Já na Holanda, de Haas, Faber, and Hamersma ( 2020) apontam que as medidas de restrição e a opção pelo transporte público reduziram em mais de 90% as viagens em comparação com o mesmo período de 2019.…”