International experiences on active travel planning: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic generated significant impacts on transport policy. Exploring barriers and enablers to active travel through the lens of the practitioners planning for and promoting its uptake can uncover underlying mechanisms that shape travel choices and encourage more effective interventions. This study uses online survey data from practitioners working in the planning and provision of active travel related initiatives (N = 40), to understand international experiences, as influenced by the surge of interest in active travel during the pandemic. We base our investigations and analysis on two policy process theories – the Multiple Streams Framework and Punctuated Equilibrium Theory. Drawing tools and concepts from both, we provide a synthesis of international experiences with planning for active travel, and analyse how professionals perceive existing obstacles and opportunities for active travel provision once the immediate impacts of the pandemic have waned. Our findings reveal a pervasive adherence to the status quo – while certain policies temporarily adapted to accommodate the pandemic’s disruptions, the pandemic failed to trigger substantial actions for our sample. The primary challenge lies in the enduring dominance of car-centric cultures and urban form, suggesting both a lack of community understanding about the issues associated with car usage, and ongoing structural barriers of cities planned around cars. Notwithstanding, the emergence of active travel projects and strategies since the onset of the pandemic, coupled with increasing public awareness of active travel, could be valuable in laying the groundwork for future long-term changes, even if their immediate impact is not yet evident.