Safety of Urban Transport Users During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Purpose: The article investigates issues related to the safety of transport users commuting in urbanized areas using buses, trams, subway, vehicle sharing systems, taxicabs, or ride-sourcing/ridesharing apps during the Covid-19 pandemic. Design/Methodology/Approach: The author surveyed city residents to identify their current transport safety-related preferences. Based on this survey results, the preferences identified were correlated with the actual measures undertaken by carriers to prevent virus transmission. Findings: A detailed analysis has revealed that the measures that have been implemented not always correspond with expectations of transport users or even with actual needs arising from the current epidemiological situation. Practical Implications: The analysis serves as a basis for evaluating the validity of guidelines and assessing the new safety standards developed by local authorities to protect the life and health of transport users. These standards could be maintained should subsequent waves of Covid-19 infections be experienced. They could also be implemented again if threats posed by other virus types need to be faced in the future. Originality/value: The author compared both expected and actually implemented solutions with their effectiveness parameters, based on experimental results and foreign literature.