Commuting travel behavior focusing on the role of shared transportation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Tokyo Olympics

To maintain life in the face of the COVID-19, people's lifestyles and travel behaviors must change. Accordingly, such changes have also occurred in the travel behavior for commuting purposes, especially during periods of severe congestion. The most typical example is the decrease in commuting travel due to telecommunication and other factors. Additionally, with the development of the sharing economy in recent years, the introduction of shared transportation has been rapidly expanding in the transportation sector, which may contribute to alleviating traffic congestion and other problems in the COVID-19 situation. In this study, we focused on the changes in travel behavior for commuting purposes during the COVID-19 period, including the time of the Tokyo Olympics, when traffic congestion was expected. The survey was conducted using a web-based questionnaire. In addition, to further promote changes in the travel behavior during the COVID-19 period, we analyzed the possibility of changes in the use of shared transportation arising from nudge effects of information provision and incentives. The results showed that the changes in commuting travel behavior were related to the awareness of COVID-19. Certain issues, such as a lack of ports and the widespread use of shared transportation need to be identified and resolved. Meanwhile, it was shown that the role of shared transportation for commuting purposes could be further improved by incentives and real-time information presentation about shared transportation. •A survey showed differences in changes in commuting travel behavior between COVID-19 and the Tokyo Olympics.•The role of shared transportation is discussed under circumstances of forced changes in commuting travel behavior.•The possibility of transforming transportation behavior using shared transportation by nudge theory is discussed.