Analysis of Travelers' Risk Perceptions About Public Transit Systems During COVID-19 Pandemic

The epidemic novel coronavirus disease 2019, abbreviated as COVID-19, has changed people's mobility choices significantly, which has had a great impact on public transportation because of the public's risk perception. The pandemic forced many people to shift toward private transport modes, which resulted in a decrease in public transport ridership and significantly altered travel behavior in urban areas. In this context, the present study investigated the public's COVID-19 risk perception when public transportation is used (i.e., risk-taking behavior) and factors that significantly affect the use of public transportation. To fulfill this objective, a Google form-based questionnaire was prepared and circulated online. A total of 1,720 responses were collected using the survey form. These responses were processed for outliers and incomplete responses, and a total of 1,486 data samples were used for the analysis. A factor-based regression model was developed to study the risk-taking behavior of travelers while using public transportation during the COVID-19 pandemic. From the analysis, it is inferred that the travelers' attitude negatively correlated with risk-taking behavior, whereas technology, motivation, concerns, and education positively affected COVID-19 risk perception when using public transit. Further, the study concluded that the behavior of travelers has a significant impact on their risk-taking behavior through their attitude and social norms. The findings of this study will be useful to urban transport planners in making suitable policies to increase public transportation ridership during pandemics.