Date of Award

August 2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Civil Engineering

Committee Member

Pamela Murray-Tuite

Committee Member

Mashrur ‘Ronnie’ Chowdhury

Committee Member

Jennifer Ogle

Abstract

At the end of December 2019, a new coronavirus spread in Wuhan, China, and worldwide and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared this outbreak of the COVID-19 virus a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Different states and cities implemented various strategies including school closure, working from home, and restaurant and shop closures to control the virus spread, resulting in reduced travel demand. COVID-19 provided an opportunity to understand the differential impacts of a pandemic on travel demand. This study investigates the changes in the U.S. transportation mode use and factors influencing changes in mode use frequency for commuting during the coronavirus pandemic compared to pre-coronavirus period. Researchers conducted three waves of surveys in four metropolitan areas: New York, Washington D.C, Miami, and Houston in the United States and received 2800 responses from each wave. For this thesis, respondents had to commute at least one day/week to be included in the analysis. Ordered logistic models for relative frequency of use of commuting modes such as owned/leased vehicles, rideshare, bus and walk were created. Larger household size was positively associated with the more frequent use of owned/leased vehicles. Coronavirus risk perception was negatively associated with more frequent use of buses. Vehicle ownership was negatively associated with more frequent use of rideshare mode.

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