Impact and analysis of rider comfort in shared modes during the COVID-19 pandemic

Travel behavior has dramatically shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic as social distancing measures and stay-at-home orders are encouraged to prevent the spread of infection. Shared mobility, which includes transit, ride-hailing, and shared ride-hailing, typically involves contact with strangers and is now viewed as a potential risk. To understand current trends and predict potential modal shifts in a post-COVID-19 world, this research designed, developed, and deployed a short online survey about comfort with and usage of shared transportation. The survey was distributed through multiple recruitment methods to adults in the Atlanta metro area. Data collected from the survey (n = 787) revealed preferences related to ride-sharing environments and safety procedures, frequency of travel on different modes before and during the pandemic, and level of comfort related to the usage of different modes. Despite reopening the economy in Georgia, this research found that the actual usage of private ride-hailing and transit has dramatically decreased. In addition to the usage, the indicated comfort level with usage of shared mobility has decreased since the pandemic. Looking to the future, regression models and data analysis indicated that although there would be an increase in comfort for all shared modes when a vaccine is available, it does not return to the pre-pandemic levels.