The changing shape of inner-city traffic: How COVID-19 changed the way we move in 2021

It was quite obvious when traffic started returning to our cities, but thanks to the data gathered by TomTom as part of its Traffic Index, we can see the bigger picture of what that means and what that economic recovery looks like.

When traffic began to return to our streets, it returned in a different form as to when it left. Two things appear to have happened: we now favor private transport more than before, and traffic density is spreading out throughout the day.

Due to the pandemic, public transport lost its allure as many opted for socially distanced forms of travel. Cities like New York, USA, Paris, France, and London, UK, took the opportunity to build new cycle lanes and low traffic neighborhoods to promote e-scooter and bicycle use. Low emission zones, a way of keeping the most polluting vehicles from city centers, have become a hot topic too. While these strategies have contributed to some reductions in traffic within cities, interurban movement has continued to be an issue for congestion.

Many interurban travelers appeared to prefer their own private cars over public transport, most likely for their relative safety and isolation during the pandemic. This led to sharp increases in congestion in cities when lockdown restrictions were lifted, and people had a reason to leave their homes. For example, in September 2021, traffic in Paris, France, was 10% higher than it was in September 2019.

With many of us choosing to work from home, we were gifted the opportunity to do more online shopping and be at home to receive our packages when they were delivered. While this reduces traffic in one sense, as we’re not traveling ourselves to go shopping, it increases traffic in another sense.

TomTom says that one of the reasons traffic levels have spread out through the day is due to our online shopping habits. Indeed, while an increase in traffic levels shows that cities are reopening and recovering economically, the spreading of traffic is another marker that local economies are recovering, albeit in a slightly different form.

In some countries, like the U.S. or the United Kingdom, cities have seen traffic spread throughout the daytime, alongside a decrease in peak hours. “This can partly be explained by the boom of e-commerce,” said Ralf Peter Schäfer, VP Travel and Traffic at TomTom. “The COVID crisis has acted as a catalyst that increased the speed of change in our way to consume. The last-mile sector is experiencing a massive transformation driven by increasing customer requirements who demand more immediate or same-day deliveries and return options.”

Even though drivers prefer private cars over public transport, and congestion is returning to our cities, the solution is not to build more roads. Building roads does not ease congestion, rather it creates a place for more congestion.

The future, as we emerge from global coronavirus lockdowns, must be built with more consideration, more intelligently. Low emission zones, low traffic neighborhoods and improved cycling infrastructure are all proving to have a positive effect on cities. Indeed, the challenge city planners now face is knowing where to build this infrastructure for the best effect, and how to track its performance and show that it’s had a positive impact on congestion and emissions.

Thankfully, companies like TomTom provide data for both ends of this equation. Using sensor data from vehicles and GPS devices, we can see how roads are used in real time. The company’s Traffic Index is proof of that. Monitoring this over time allows us to see the impact that infrastructure changes make.

Schäfer explains the situation, “To achieve a fundamental improvement, the modal split must be changed: cycling, public transit and other modes of transport must take a larger sharing in transportation. Such a redirection is a political task that requires both high investment and bold political decisions – and it takes time.”