Therefore, a key question for the energy sector is whether changes to transport behaviours during the crisis may result in a permanent change in behaviour (and transport energy use) or if transport patterns will revert to ‘business as usual’ when the crisis ends. With passenger transport responsible for around 40% of final oil demand and 15% of global energy-related carbon emissions, any crisis-induced changes to way we travel will have significant global implications, if changes to transport behaviours become permanent after lockdowns are lifted. Covid-19 is changing our behaviour and transport energy use patternsįor the energy sector, this trend has had huge knock-on effects for oil consumption, contributing to a 5% decrease in demand in the first quarter of 2020. This is supported by data 1 from one popular transport planning smartphone app showing that trips are down by over 90% since the crisis began in many of the world’s major cities. For example, the strict lockdown imposed in the UK in March 2020 has led to a 95% decrease in underground journeys in London. Global road transport activity was almost 50% below the 2019 average by the end of March 2020 and commercial flight activity almost 75% below 2019 by mid-April 2020. The crisis has affected all forms of transport, from cars, and public transport in cities, to buses, trains and planes nationally and internationally.
In contrast, passenger transport, (for both leisure and business travel) is often optional, and more influenced by people’s decision-making processes. The focus of this paper is therefore on passenger transport.
Public conveyance jobs drivers#
While freight transport has also been reduced, the drivers of freight activity during the current crisis are complex, driven by both supply- and demand-side factors, and in the latter, by the need to keep essential services operating. One of the biggest impacts has been the reduction in passenger transport demand, due to a combination of government lockdowns and fears of contracting and spreading the virus when using mass transport modes. The restrictions put in place to limit the diffusion and impacts of Covid-19 have had a widespread impact on people’s lives, and the way energy is used across entire economies.
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