Transportation-Related Toxic Emissions Influenced by Public Reactions to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Firstly, the impacts of the pandemic on travel and related emissions for individuals are ambiguous. On one hand, employees do not need to commute to their workplaces, at least not on a daily basis [11], which eliminates many work-based travels, particularly during peak hours, and hence reduces mobile emissions [12]. On the other hand, other types of those commuters’ travel demands may increase, at least in part. They may reschedule their saved commuting time for on-site shopping, entrainment, family reunification, fitness, site visits of attractions, etc. Studies indicate that the WFH mode has reduced vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) by 11.5 percent from eliminated commuting trips, with the number of personal trips slightly increased [13]. The overall individual travel demands may be raised or decreased by the pandemic, and the proportions for the types of travel demands are significantly influenced during this pandemic period due to the WFH mode.