The global outbreak of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has posed multifaceted challenges to the world. In order to restrict the spread of the highly contagious virus, the Government of India imposed lockdown and social distancing rules on March 24, 2020. As the experiences from lockdown are completely new, a critical scientific question arises on how to derive the social impact of the lockdown and identify the scopes for imposing more efficient and effective lockdown in the future, if the situation demands, as well as formulating future transport strategies. In this regard, the present study was aimed to bring out the evidences related to public perceptions and attitude towards travel-related activities and preventive measures during the early stages of lockdown in Indian cities. A five-stage survey instrument was designed and circulated through various online modes to make it convenient to the respondents and also to achieve a greater geographical coverage within a short period of time. The survey responses were analysed to obtain meaningful insights and derive implications in four specific aspects - attitude towards strategies and preventive measures, long-distance travel characteristics, perceptions towards essential services, and, perceptions towards post-lockdown travel. The study reports several interesting observations with respect to each of the above-mentioned aspects that may be of use to the policy and decision-makers in the near future.
Exploring Public Perception towards Travel and COVID-19 Preventive Measures: Insights from the Early Stages of Lockdown in India