In March 2020, the World Health Organisation announced COVID-19 as a global pandemic, which has had a significant impact on mobility worldwide. Government authorities and public transport operators throughout the world, including the Western Balkans region, reacted by imposing safety measures to reduce the contagion risk, with implications on mobility behaviours. In addition to restricting the movement of people, the use of public transport was limited or in some cases entirely suspended. Consequently, social and health inequalities were exacerbated between those who can work remotely and those who have to travel to work every day, as well as between those with access to private vehicles and other (often low-income) households that depend on shared transit.
To assess the impacts on public transport operations, EBRD commissioned Enova to undertake a study in a number of cities in the Western Balkans to better understand the impacts and also to identify practical measures that could be introduced to help reduce health and safety risks to vulnerable passengers and road users. The study covers the cities of Pristina (Kosovo); Sarajevo and Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Belgrade and Novi Sad (Serbia), Skopje (North Macedonia) and Tirana (Albania).
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Study – Impact of the Pandemic on Public Transport
Infographic – Impact of the Pandemic on Public Transport
Powerpoint presentation – Impact of the Pandemic on Public Transport