Quantifying the impact of COVID-19 on travel behavior in different socioeconomic segments

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of COVID-19 on travel behavior in different socio-economic segments in the USA using integrated mobile device location data over the period 1 Jan 2020 ~ 20 Apr 2021. A fixed-effect panel regression model is estimated to statistically identify the relationship between COVID monitoring measures and travel behavior such as nonwork/work trips, travel miles, out-of-state trips, and the incidence of WFH in different socio-economic segments. We find that as exposure to COVID increases, the number of trips and traveling miles starts to bounce back to pre-COVID levels, while the incidence of WFH remained relatively stable and may never return to pre-COVID level. The findings have implications for understanding the heterogeneous mobility response of individuals in different socio-economic segments to various COVID waves, and thus can provide insights into the recovery of travel behavior.