Impact of Covid-19 on urban mobility in the city of Liege

Abstract

COVID-19 has unexpectedly changed the way we move around our cities. As urban transportation remains an essential service, governments, agencies, and organizations are challenged to develop and implement changes that address changing travel demand, shifting travel patterns, and promoting physical/social distance to limit the spread of the virus. The public's travel behaviors have also changed during this period, favoring more physically distant options such as biking, carpooling, and other new mobility alternatives, and driving when available, over public transportation options. What lessons can cities learn from the various response measures taken during this crisis, and how do current changes in urban transportation needs inform future urban transportation planning, favoring more space and potentially moving toward more sustainable and active modes of transportation. This study highlights the different holistic approaches and generates a toolkit of interventions for the urban transport sector. Several cities have implemented measures such as mandatory masking and temperature monitoring on public transport, promoting and facilitating access to bike sharing and other new mobility programs, adapting and reallocating space on public roads to cyclists and pedestrians to promote physical distance, among others. Although designed as initial emergency responses, the measures in this toolkit can be developed into long-term programs to change attitudes toward urban transportation, encourage alternative or more active modes of travel, and reallocate public space to people.