Transactions on Transport Sciences | Vol. 3/2022 1 Transactions on Transport Sciences Peer-Reviewed Open Access Journal Vol. 3/2022 DOI: 10.5507/tots.2022.018 journal homepage: www.tots.upol.cz COVID-19 stimulated travel behavior policy framework with evidence from travel change in southwestern Nigeria AYODELE ADEKUNLE FAIYETOLE a,b a. Department of Logistics and Transport Technology, Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria fliation b. Sustainable and Intelligent Transport Solutions, EarthSpace, Nigeria ABSTRACT: Te COVID-19 pandemic unprecedentedly redefned urban mobility as some spread containment protocols, such as lockdown, travel restrictions, and physical distancing, directly impinged mobility: these policies or personal health concerns altered travel behavior during the frst and the second waves of the pandemic. Transportation users’ reac- tions to the spread of COVID-19 vis-à-vis the government-imposed con- tainment strategies hinged on the theory of interpersonal behavior and social practice theory, informing that the travel behavior cultured during the waves may become a practice as we advance. Tis paper investigated the extent of preferential modal shift and travel change during the waves of COVID-19 toward developing a travel behavior framework for a more holistic transportation policy for pre-, during, and post-pandemic periods. Tis COVID-induced urban mobility assessment sourced primary data from transportation users during Phase 2 of the COVID-19 intervention in southwestern Nigeria. Te fndings show that COVID-19 has a weak but positive relationship with transportation means change. A private vehicle use mode preference was evident, and daily travel patterns skewed towards the weekends. Most participants felt the state border restrictions every day of the week, and most of the transportation users who commuted were essential workers. At the same time, a medium-range positive association for COVID outings due to travel purpose and employment type informed that the unemployed dominated sports and leisure trip purposes, evidence of exigent travel. Dips in routine travel purposes, geographical extent, and modal choice imply unsustainable economic decisions and must be fore- stalled post-COVID. Te paper recommends an evidence-based COVID-19 travel behavior policy framework for systemic, sustainable transportation policy formulations efective pre-, during, and post-pandemics. KEYWORDS: Pandemic, travel restrictions, travel patterns, travel pur- pose, public transportation, private vehicle use 1. INTRODUCTION Te new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic redefned urban mobility between early 2020 and recently when the virus was seemingly controlled by deploying several measures that include vaccination (Tartof et al., 2021; Feikin et al., 2022) and transportation policies. Tus, relative to the health concerns of COVID-19, from the imposed lockdown policy by most gov- ernments to travel restrictions, social distancing, and restric- tive vehicle-passenger capacity protocols, transportation, and indeed, the travel industry, including the hospitality and the tourism industry (Kaushal and Srivastava, 2021; Gursoy and Chi, 2020; Mohamed et al., 2020), have felt the impact of the pandemic in no small measure (Babalik, 2020; De Vos, 2020; Carrington, 2020; Mogaji, 2020; Abdullah et al., 2020; Gaskin et al., 2020; Dong et al., 2021; Hensher et al., 2021; Faiye- tole, 2022). Travel behavior in trip purpose, directed or mo- tion needs, daily travel patterns, and modal types witnessed unprecedented changes during COVID (Abdullah et al., 2020; De Vos, 2020; Gaskin et al., 2020; Gutiérrez et al., 2020; Hen- sher et al., 2021; Hook et al., 2021; Dong et al., 2021). To this end, the objectives of this present study are to exam- ine the extent of modal shift and travel change infuenced by the COVID-19 spread-mitigative protocols in southwestern Ni- geria to develop an evidence-based sustainable travel behaviour policy framework efective pre-, during, and post-pandemic. Te paper is organized as follows: related works to this study were documented in section two, including pre-COVID and COVID period reviews. Te data source, instrument’s validity, and reliability, and statistical techniques adopted to elicit information are documented in section three. Section four of this paper contains the results. After that, the discus- sion and conclusions. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Pre-COVID travel period Te pre-COVID travel period predated the detection of the SARS-CoV-2 strain on the last day of December 2019; thus, transportation normalcy still existed in 2019. 2.1.1. Te constancy of commute times hypothesis During pre-COVID, the Italian physicist Cesare Marchetti’s (1994) hypothesis that human beings universally have com- mute times of about 66 minutes was supported by Kung et al. (2014). And both directed and undirected trips, motion need, or travel for travel itself, are universally defned. Despite the constancy in travel time commuting in urban centers, the US Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS, 2014; Herriges, 2017) showed that commuting time is altered with a dip during recessions. Tey showed a difering travel pattern during weekdays, for di- rected travels, such as commuting, and at weekends when they generally have more relaxing activities. Te COVID-19 pan- demic, similar to a recession in some ways, would expectedly signifcantly impact travel patterns. Especially since travel restrictions protocols and other policies (Bhaduri et al., 2020; Tirachini and Cats, 2020; Dzisi and Dei, 2020; De Vos, 2020) have a direct or indirect impact on travel behavior. 2.1.2. Te principle of modal shift Te pre-COVID era’s transportation modal shift was some- what afected by the other comparative merits or disadvan- tages of cost, convenience, speed, timeliness, reliability, con- gestion, and carbon emissions (Rodrigue, 2020; Choi et al., 2019). Terefore, preferences refect society, which could be due to forced or willing behavioral change (Faiyetole, 2019). Te availability of alternatives primarily informs modal choic-