Changes in Active Travel During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This chapter examines the impact of the pandemic on walking and bicycling using three longitudinal samples of U.S. adults in the time of COVID-19. We use data from a unique longitudinal panel that was created as a combination of research projects conducted during 2018, 2019, and 2020 at the University of California, Davis. Data was collected in a sequence of four waves of data collection to better understand how active travel changed from early lockdown orders through lifts in travel restrictions. Bicycling in all three panels showed examples of an increase in the mode share for commuting at the start of the pandemic along with less of a decrease in the absolute number of trips with this mode, compared to other modes. Through person-level change and changes in mode share, walking showed an increase for non-work travel and daily physical activity during the spring of 2020. The analyses presented in this chapter show how some respondents initially turned to active travel during the early pandemic months, but that active travel generally waned later into the pandemic.