A systematic review of COVID-19 transport policies and mitigation strategies around the globe

Abstract

This paper reports a Scopus-based systematic literature review of a wide variety of transportation policies and mitigation strategies that have been conducted around the world to minimize COVID-19 contagion risk in transportation systems. The review offers a representative coverage of countries across all continents of the planet, as well as among representative climate regions - as weather is an important factor to consider. The readership interested in policies and mitigation strategies is expected to involve a wide range of actors, each involving a particular application context; hence, the literature is also characterized by key attributes such as: transportation mode; actor (users, operators, government, industry); jurisdiction (national, provincial, city, neighborhood); and area of application (planning, regulation, operations, research, incentives). An in-depth analysis of the surveyed literature is then reported, focusing first on condensing the literature into 151 distinct policies and strategies, which are subsequently categorized into 25 broad categories that are discussed at length. The compendium and discussion of strategies and policies reported not only provide comprehensive guidelines to inform various courses of action for decision-makers, planners, and social communicators, but also emphasize on future work and the potential of some of these strategies to be the precursors of meaningful, more sustainable behavioral changes in future mobility patterns.

Keywords: COVID-19; Policies; Risks; SARS-CoV-2; Strategies; Transportation.

Fig. 1

Literature characterization by mode.

Fig. 2

Literature characterization by actor.

Fig. 3

Literature characterization by jurisdiction.

Fig. 4

Literature characterization by application.

Fig. 5

Characterization of the literature by mode, application field, and color-coded by actor.

Fig. 6

Worldwide coverage of the literature review.

Fig. 7

The Koppen Climate Classification System. Retrieved from: https://earthhow.com/ koppen-climate-classification/.

Fig. 8

Frequency of broad strategies found in the literature.

Fig. 9

Broad strategies classified by actor.

Fig. 10

Classification of future work directions by category.