Journal of Korean Society of Transportation ISSN:1229-1366(Print) 2234-4217(Online) 대한교통학회지

COVID-19 virus is a type of virus that can infect human and many kinds of animals. It is defined as a Respiratory Syndrome by SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 halts human movements for economic and social activities over the world. The futurologists predict such pandemic would occur periodically in every few years. The research on human movement patterns in reactions to such disease spread is therefore required. The study aims to identify the changing pattern and spatial characteristics of transit use under COVID-19 and provide the base for an appropriate transit policy. The paper analyzed change of the bus use pattern in Gyeonggi Province and its relationships with spatial characteristics in the period of early 2020 when the movement pattern was vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19. The findings are following. Firstly, the impact of COVID-19 on the reduction of bus use frequency tended to heavily focus on the large-sized bus stops. Secondly, the increment of newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 induced the increment of the number of passengers using the bus stops in the peripheral area of less frequent economic activities. On the other hand, the decrement of the number of newly confirmed cases increased bus use volume of bus stops at the central part with industrial and economic activities more active than peripheral. These in turn suggest a shift of the focus of transportation policies from the efficiency of mass passenger collecting and transportation to the safety to avoid the infection.