Examining COVID-19 Impact on Vehicle Travel Patterns in San Diego Using Parking Data

Keywords: COVID-19, parking, travel, transportation, San Diego
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic affected travel patterns as new restrictions on travel and public gatherings limited people’s normal business, recreational, and shopping activities. With the development of vaccines and new treatment methods and with the evolution of the COVID-19 virus to less lethal forms, the world is transitioning from a pandemic to endemic status and mobility restrictions are easing or disappearing entirely. With these changes, are people reverting completely to pre-pandemic patterns of shopping, recreation, and work or are they maintaining some aspects of their pandemic behaviors which altered the amounts, frequencies, and destinations of their travels? Are they forming new patterns, not indicative of either their pre-pandemic or pandemic travel habits? This paper examines the travel patterns of vehicle drivers in San Diego (where 94% of households own at least one vehicle) by looking at parking data – a direct indication of the destinations that people choose when they travel. Drawing from multiple data sources, this paper also compares the results across datasets to evaluate their validity.