Article
Covid-19 pandemic is an unprecedented event which showed us that our present transportation system is not resilient enough in terms of evacuating people from workplaces to their homes or to address problems people are facing in the lock down period. There are significant changes which people witnessed in the lockdown period that will affect the behavior of people. Even after recovery period, people may continue to exercise precautions against a possible second pandemic wave, which researchers suggest might hit in Fall 2020. Hence it is of utmost importance to understand the behavioral changes in people, the travel choices they make, and the planning and policy interventions required during BAU (Business As Usual) scenario after recovery period (pandemic’s peak period ends). This understanding will help government to prevent any second wave and can make transportation system integrated with response mechanism.
Government needs to prepare a detailed plan beforehand so that post COVID-19 world is quickly supported by proper scientific interventions. Such interventions are required to solve problems which will arise during the BAU scenario such as managing transport demand, promoting sustainable transport interventions, improving resiliency of transport system to withstand any further COVID-19 wave and response to such disasters etc. This white paper aims to showcase different issues that government, state and private agencies are required to address as soon as possible and provides suggestions to tackle such critical issues. Following sections introduce each issue one by one with possible solutions to solve them.