Public transport use and mortality among older adults in England: A cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Most evidence on transport use and mortality has focused on the commute to work. This study aims to fill a gap by assessing relationships between public transport use and mortality among older adults. METHODS: Data come from a cohort of 10,186 individuals aged 50 or older who participated in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), with survey data linked to mortality records over 16 years (2002-2018). We assessed a binary measure of public transport use and frequency of use from 'every day or nearly every day' to 'never'. Cox proportional-hazards regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations between public transport use and mortality. Analyses were adjusted for a range of covariates including socio-demographic factors, chronic disease, and self-reported problems with daily living activities. RESULTS: Overall, 3371 participants (33.1%) died within the study period. Mortality was lower among public transport users (21.3%) compared with non-users (64.2%). Adjusted analyses found that users had 34% lower mortality than non-users (HR 0.66 (95% CI 0.61;0.71)). Adjusted analyses showed similar association sizes across frequencies of public transport use, with those using public transport every day or nearly every day having 41% lower mortality than never users (HR 0.59 (0.49;0.71)). Associations were similar among those with and without a longstanding illness. CONCLUSION: The use of public transport among older adults is linked to lower levels of mortality. Reductions in provision of public transport services could be detrimental to both transportation and population health.

Service failure is bound to happen: Unraveling the impact of dissatisfaction, complaint behavior and re-travel intention in travel and tourism industry.

Service failure is bound to happen, but dissatisfaction has always been undermined by scholars previously. The present study investigates dissatisfaction factors in travel decision-making leading towards re-travel intention with the help of the expectancy disconfirmation theory (EDT) model. Moreover, complaint behavior mediates the relationship between dissatisfaction and re-travel intention concerning the factors involved in it. For the findings, 434 real-time responses were collected through an offline survey following the lifetime value (LTV) approach. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett's tests were conducted to test the sphericity of the variables one by one. Furthermore, structural equation modeling (SEM) was implied to test the measurement and structural models. All the hypotheses supported and accepted the proposed research questions. The findings reveal that the dissatisfaction factors, with their interaction terms (transaction-based and experience-based), help study the variable dissatisfaction and its multifaceted concept in travel and tourism literature. Moreover, complaint behavior is identified as a key mediating factor in the relationship between dissatisfaction and re-travel intention, suggesting that commuters' response to dissatisfaction, including complaints, shapes their future re-travel intentions. The theoretical implications of the study are substantial, as it advances our understanding of commuter behavior in the context of public transport travel and tourism. Practically, the findings offer actionable insights for public transport authorities and service providers. Understanding the specific dissatisfaction factors influencing re-travel intention allows for targeted interventions to improve service quality and customer experience. Recognizing the importance of effective complaint management systems can help organizations better address customer grievances and mitigate the negative effects of dissatisfaction on re-travel intention.

Impact of changes in commuting mode on body weight among Japanese workers: a longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE: The health benefits of active commuting have been reported. However, few studies have assessed commuting modes using objective methods. This study clarified the association between changes in objectively measured commuting modes and body weight among Japanese workers. METHODS: This longitudinal study used data from the annual health examinations and personnel records of a company with branches in all prefectures of Japan. Data from 2018 and 2019 were used as the baseline and follow-up data, respectively. The commuting mode was assessed using the commuting mode code included in the personnel records and classified into three types: walking, public transport, and car or motorcycle. The participants were classified into nine categories based on the combination of their commuting modes in 2018 and 2019. Body weight was measured objectively during health examinations. The 1-year changes in body weight were calculated for the nine categories and assessed using an analysis of covariance with adjustments for covariates. RESULTS: The analysis included 6,551 workers (men: 86.8%; mean age: 42.8 years). Overall, body weights tended to increase (+0.40 kg/year). The participants who switched to more active commuting, such as from car or motorcycle to walking (-0.13 kg/year), from car or motorcycle to public transport (+0.10 kg/year), and from public transport to walking (-0.07 kg/year), exhibited small weight gains or losses. A similar trend was observed even after adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: Changing to a more active commuting mode may prevent weight gain among workers.

A model for SARS-CoV-2 virus transmission on the upper deck of a passenger ship bound for a short trip.

Public transportation plays a critical role in meeting transportation demands, particularly in densely populated areas. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of public health measures, including the need to prevent the spread of the virus through public transport. The spreading of the virus on a passenger ship is studied using the Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model and Monte Carlo simulation. A particular focus was the context of Bangladesh, a populous maritime nation in South Asia, where a significant proportion of the population utilizes passenger ships to meet transportation demands. In this regard, a turbulence model is used, which simulates the airflow pattern and determines the contamination zone. Parameters under investigation are voyage duration, number of passengers on board, social distance, the effect of surgical masks, and others. This study shows that the transmission rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection on public transport, such as passenger ships, is not necessarily directly proportional to voyage duration or the number of passengers onboard. This model has the potential to be applied in various other modes of transportation, including public buses and airplanes. Implementing this model may help to monitor and address potential health risks effectively in the public transport networks.

Safety performance of dedicated and preferential bus lanes using multivariate negative binomial models for Bogotá, Colombia.

Public transport priority systems such as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Buses with High Level of Service (BHLS) are top-rated solutions to mobility in low-income and middle-income cities. There is scientific agreement that the safety performance level of these systems depends on their functional, operational, and infrastructure characteristics. However, there needs to be more evidence on how the different characteristics of bus corridors might influence safety. This paper aims to shed some light on this area by structuring a multivariate negative binomial model comparing crash risk on arterial roads, BRT, and BHLS corridors in Bogotá, Colombia. The analyzed infrastructure includes 712.1 km of arterial roads with standard bus service, 194.1 km of BRT network, and 135.6 km of BHLS network. The study considered crashes from 2015 to 2018 -fatalities, injuries, and property damage only- and 30 operational and infrastructure variables grouped into six classes -exposure, road design, infrastructure, public means of transport, and land use. A multicriteria process was applied for model selection, including the structure and predictive power based on [i] Akaike information criteria, [ii] K-fold cross-validation, and [iii] model parsimony. Relevant findings suggest that in terms of observed and expected accident rates and their relationship with the magnitude of exposure -logarithm of average annual traffic volumes at the peak hour (LOG_AAPHT) and the percentage of motorcycles, cars, buses, and trucks- the greatest risk of fatalities, injuries, and property damage occurs in the BHLS network. BRT network provides lower crash rates in less severe collisions while increasing injuries and fatalities. When comparing the BHLS network and the standard design of arterial roads, BHLS infrastructure, despite increasing mobility benefits, provides the lowest safety performance among the three analyzed networks. Individual factors of the study could also contribute to designing safer roads related to signalized intersection density and curvature. These findings support the unique characteristics and traffic dynamics present in the context of Bogotá that could inform and guide decisions of corresponding authorities in other highly dense urban areas from developing countries.

Research on smart city public health detection system and improvement technology based on intelligent multi-objective.

Introduction: With the increase of urban population density, urban sanitation becomes more severe; urban sanitation has important influence on public health. Therefore, in order to realize the detection of public health in smart cities, the research will use cutting-edge scientific and technological methods to improve urban environmental health, so as to promote the realization of public health achievements. This study introduces public health detection and optimizationtechnologies for smart cities. Methods: Firstly, a data detection system for urban public health environment was established using sensors and intelligent multi-objective technology to evaluate the water quality, air quality, and noise level of the city. Then, an intelligent garbage management system based on Tensor-flow was constructed to achieve efficient garbage collection and treatment. Finally, an intelligent traffic management system was developed to monitor and regulate urban traffic flow. Results: The results of the simulation experiment demonstrated that the life data detection system was operationally stable, with a high success rate of 98%. Furthermore, its accuracy in detecting residents' living environment data was above 95%, the maximum relative error was only 0.0465, making it a reliable and efficient tool. The waste recycling system achieved a minimum accuracy of 83.6%, the highest accuracy rate was 95.3%, making it capable of sorting and recycling urban waste effectively. Additionally, the smart traffic management system led to a 20% reduction in traffic congestion rates, 20 tonnes less tailpipe emissions and an improvement in public health and well-being. Discussion: In summary, the plan proposed in this study aims to create a more comfortable, safe, and healthy urban public health environment, while providing theoretical support for environmental health management in smart cities.

An overview of the bacterial microbiome of public transportation systems-risks, detection, and countermeasures.

When we humans travel, our microorganisms come along. These can be harmless but also pathogenic, and are spread by touching surfaces or breathing aerosols in the passenger cabins. As the pandemic with SARS-CoV-2 has shown, those environments display a risk for infection transmission. For a risk reduction, countermeasures such as wearing face masks and distancing were applied in many places, yet had a significant social impact. Nevertheless, the next pandemic will come and additional countermeasures that contribute to the risk reduction are needed to keep commuters safe and reduce the spread of microorganisms and pathogens, but also have as little impact as possible on the daily lives of commuters. This review describes the bacterial microbiome of subways around the world, which is mainly characterized by human-associated genera. We emphasize on healthcare-associated ESKAPE pathogens within public transport, introduce state-of-the art methods to detect common microbes and potential pathogens such as LAMP and next-generation sequencing. Further, we describe and discuss possible countermeasures that could be deployed in public transportation systems, as antimicrobial surfaces or air sterilization using plasma. Commuting in public transport can harbor risks of infection. Improving the safety of travelers can be achieved by effective detection methods, microbial reduction systems, but importantly by hand hygiene and common-sense hygiene guidelines.

What can be done with today's budget and demand? Scenarios of rural public transport automation in Mühlwald (South Tyrol).

Rural public transport is typically limited in its coverage, frequency and service period. This is often linked to a low and dispersed demand, which makes the provision of competitive transport services often financially unsustainable. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) might change this condition, allowing for an upgrade of public transport in rural areas. Nevertheless, current studies are mostly focused on urban areas, while the potential for rural applications remains underexplored. This paper contributes to this research line by developing a set of so-called AV scenarios for a potential upgrade of public transport in the rural study area of Mühlwald (South Tyrol, Italy). These scenarios are designed following three core principles. First, line-based and on-demand applications of AVs are not only individually tested, but even combined over space and time in different manners to exploit their synergy. Second, the performances of the scenarios are quantified by assuming the today´s agency cost budget, public-transport demand and peak-hour system capacity to be fixed parameters to comply with. Third, the uncertainties regarding the impacts of AVs on the agency costs are taken into account by defining optimistic, neutral and pessimistic variants of each scenario. Results indicate that the full replacement of current bus lines with a system of on-demand shared taxis might provide the highest performance improvements with the same budget as today, but only with a much bigger fleet. At the same time, the combination of bus lines and on-demand services over time (and space) might provide similarly competitive results while keeping the needed fleet size, service distance and service time relatively low. With this study, policy makers may get insights into the potential improvements of rural public transport that might be initially obtained with different uses of AVs, given a fixed agency cost budget and demand.

How job stressors and economic stressors impact public transport drivers' performance and well-being under the health risk of the COVID-19 pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: During the COVID-19 pandemic, public transport (e.g., bus and taxi) drivers encountered great stress because they needed to work to maintain the operation of the transportation system. This study proposes and empirically investigates the impacts of job stressors and economic stressors of public transport drivers on emotional exhaustion, and subsequent psychological well-being and performance under the health risk of COVID-19. The moderating effects of perceived threat and death anxiety on the relationships between stressors and emotional exhaustion are also examined. METHOD AND RESULTS: Using two survey samples collected from bus and taxi drivers in Taiwan, the results reveal that, except for the effect of time pressure on taxi drivers' exhaustion, job stressors (job overload and time pressure) and economic stressors (job insecurity) positively relate to emotional exhaustion for both bus and taxi drivers. Drivers' emotional exhaustion has negative effects on both job satisfaction and positive effects on risky driving behaviors. Perceived pandemic threat strengthens the positive influence of job insecurity on emotional exhaustion for bus drivers, while perceived pandemic threat and death anxiety weaken the negative influence of job insecurity on emotional exhaustion for taxi drivers. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Effective intervention strategies and policies to mitigate perceived pandemic threat and death anxiety of drivers are recommended.

"We do not go outside, though We want to": Unequal Access to Public Transport and Transport-Related Social Exclusion of Older Adults in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

This study investigated key physical and social barriers to accessing public transport in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and how the unequal accessibility of transport leads to the social exclusion of older adults. Employing a transport disadvantage perspective and drawing on visual surveys and in-depth interviews, the study explores the context and lived experiences of older adults using public transport in their everyday lives. Difficulty in accessing buses due to overcrowding and congestion, struggling to get on rickshaws due to height, avoiding CNG (an autorickshaw) and cabs due to high fares, disliking Laguna (a small four-wheeler human haulier for carrying passengers) for compact seating arrangements, undesirable behavior, and social attitudes discourage older adults from participating in social activities and produce a feeling of social isolation and exclusion. Hence, more inclusive transport policies are essential in low- and middle-income countries to reduce transport-related social exclusion and improve the well-being of older adults.

Evaluating Sustainable Mobility: Motorized and Non-motorized Modes in Suburban Areas of Thailand.

The impact of sustainable mobility may be considered through the mode of non-motorization, which may vary by spatial environmental conditions, especially accessibility by active mobility in a necessarily safe, comfortable, and pleasant atmosphere. Sustainable mobility comprises willingness to allow commuting behaviors on non-motorized travel for safety and green ethics. These chiefly participate to create livable places, improve health and well-being, and promote quality of life and economic growth. By contrast, an impoverished street environment decreases the possibility of active mobility and relies on motorization. It is essential to explore the perception of road users through diverse environmental features of street networks and sidewalks directly affecting road user behavior and preferences about motorization and non-motorization. This study evaluated multi-indicators of sustainable urban mobility (SUM) for a group of road users, with data gathered by questionnaire-based survey. 1,998 Pathum Thani Province inhabitants in Thailand were asked to evaluate their neighborhood characteristics by SUM indicators. In addition to different social dimensions and socioeconomic backgrounds, transportation characteristics among diverse trip makers and different perceptions of mobility indicators were classified by factor analysis using principal components and spatial visualization. Results were that traffic management, including intersection controls and signage, as well as information, sidewalk, management, and personal mobility choices, is a key strategy to improve sustainable mobility. This is achieved by tailoring solutions to achieve a modal shift prioritized over other supportive facilities.

Comparative analysis of decarbonization of local public transportation: A real case study.

Climate disruptions have prompted institutions to invest in zero-emissions technologies, in recent years. As a result, the transportation sector has witnessed a shift from internal combustion engines to electric. Several public transport companies have initiated the "Zero-emissions" project to introduce alternatives to diesel in their bus service. This paper delves into the impacts of transitioning from diesel-powered to electric buses. It starts by estimating emissions produced by buses and comparing them. Subsequently, the analysis evaluates the implications of renewing the fleet on the service, considering the change in bus capacity. Additionally, a profitability analysis assesses the Total Cost of Ownership, factoring in helpful life and average distance (kilometres) driven annually. Overall, the findings indicate that switching to electric buses is a promising approach towards achieving environmental objectives. The study shows that investing in electric buses, particularly those measuring 9-m, offers significant economic benefits while aligning with sustainability goals. The research demonstrates that electric buses yield a substantial reduction in global and local emissions when compared to their diesel counterparts. Adopting a comprehensive "well-to-wheel" perspective, electric buses achieve an impressive 68 % reduction in emissions. However, concerning local emissions, certain specific lines recorded values exceeded legal limits. While the initial investment costs for electric buses may surpass diesel buses, the total cost of ownership analysis conducted over 15 years indicates that electric buses can become more cost-effective over time. This cost-effectiveness and their environmental advantages strengthen the case for adopting electric buses to pursue sustainable transportation systems.

Measuring public transport accessibility to fixed activities and discretionary opportunities: a space-time approach.

The Space-Time Accessibility (STA) model is broadly used to measure person-based accessibility based on the space, time, and transport constraints experienced at the individual level in connection to the actual modal choices of observed individuals. In this paper, we propose to adjust the STA model (by introducing a so-called PT-STA model) with three core purposes: (1) focusing on public transport accessibility specifically, (2) measuring accessibility to both fixed activities and discretionary opportunities, and (3) integrating travel-time thresholds in the accessibility measurement. These three elements aim to make the PT-STA model a suitable tool to evaluate the impacts of public transport interventions on person-based accessibility and extend the evaluation of public transport accessibility to its fixed and discretionary dimensions. The PT-STA model is tested with a sample of 118 residents of the rural municipality of Mühlwald (South Tyrol, Italy). Results show that the accessibility to fixed activities and discretionary opportunities are limitedly correlated. It is possible to identify people with high accessibility to fixed activities and poor access to discretionary opportunities (typically pensioners and homemakers living in remote locations) and vice versa (e.g. people with articulated rural-urban commutes but daily visiting locations with several amenities). These results preliminarily confirm the importance of combining both accessibility dimensions in the PT-STA model since they tell complementary and not overlapped stories that are relevant for policymakers to evaluate the pros and cons of alternative public transport interventions.

Social Distance Approximation on Public Transport Using Stereo Depth Camera and Passenger Pose Estimation.

In order to effectively balance enforced guidance/regulation during a pandemic and limit infection transmission, with the necessity for public transportation services to remain safe and operational, it is imperative to understand and monitor environmental conditions and typical behavioural patterns within such spaces. Social distancing ability on public transport as well as the use of advanced computer vision techniques to accurately measure this are explored in this paper. A low-cost depth-sensing system is deployed on a public bus as a means to approximate social distancing measures and study passenger habits in relation to social distancing. The results indicate that social distancing on this form of public transport is unlikely for an individual beyond a 28% occupancy threshold, with an 89% chance of being within 1-2 m from at least one other passenger and a 57% chance of being within less than one metre from another passenger at any one point in time. Passenger preference for seating is also analysed, which clearly demonstrates that for typical passengers, ease of access and comfort, as well as seats having a view, are preferred over maximising social-distancing measures. With a highly detailed and comprehensive set of acquired data and accurate measurement capability, the employed equipment and processing methodology also prove to be a robust approach for the application.

Women's Empowerment Through Access to Safe Transport: The Impact of Sexual and Nonsexual Victimization on Female Commuters in Bangladesh and Cambodia.

An examination of women's experience on public transport in Bangladesh and Cambodia found that victimization does reduce perceived safety or transport use. In a cultural context where women are socialized to fear and avoid public spaces, experiencing victimization may confirm rather than change previous beliefs. Moreover, it is possible that the participants' use of public transport was driven by necessity rather than choice and that they were unable to change travel patterns in response to victimization. These findings underscore the importance of targeting public violence toward women and the broader societal norms that limit their participation in public life.

Customers' satisfaction towards Addis Ababa City's minibus taxi service.

In Addis Ababa, Shared minibus taxis are contributing significantly more than any other form of public transit to meeting the city's transportation needs. But there were limited research done on taxis in general and customer satisfaction with minibus taxis in particular. Therefore, this study aims to assess the satisfaction of minibus taxi customers through a survey questionnaire distributed and collected at taxi stations. Descriptive analysis was used to measure the satisfaction levels/rates of respondents towards each service quality attribute of the minibus taxis. Then, we compared the means value of satisfaction responses followed by factor/principal component analysis. Once the most important satisfaction variables are identified through the factor analysis, an ordered logit model was used to create a relationship between the selected satisfaction variables and the socio-demographic characteristics of taxi riders. The results of the study showed that minibus taxi overload, safety, and security at stations are attributes in which the respondents show greater dissatisfaction. The result of the ordered logit model revealed that the respondents who showed greater dissatisfaction with the taxi drivers and their assistants' behavior are those who had been stolen at least once on a minibus taxi. Also, riders weigh more on the functionality of the service than their comfort and security. Thus, the service providers, Addis Ababa Road Authority, security personnel, and any relevant body should work together on maximizing the customers' satisfaction in minibus taxis.

Deprivation, essential and non-essential activities and SARS-CoV-2 infection following the lifting of national public health restrictions in England and Wales.

Background: Individuals living in deprived areas in England and Wales undertook essential activities more frequently and experienced higher rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection than less deprived communities during periods of restrictions aimed at controlling the Alpha (B.1.1.7) variant. We aimed to understand whether these deprivation-related differences changed once restrictions were lifted. Methods: Among 11,231 adult Virus Watch Community Cohort Study participants multivariable logistic regressions were used to estimate the relationships between deprivation and self-reported activities and deprivation and infection (self-reported lateral flow or PCR tests and linkage to National Testing data and Second Generation Surveillance System (SGSS)) between August - December 2021, following the lifting of national public health restrictions. Results: Those living in areas of greatest deprivation were more likely to undertake essential activities (leaving home for work (aOR 1.56 (1.33 - 1.83)), using public transport (aOR 1.33 (1.13 - 1.57)) but less likely to undertake non-essential activities (indoor hospitality (aOR 0.82 (0.70 - 0.96)), outdoor hospitality (aOR 0.56 (0.48 - 0.66)), indoor leisure (aOR 0.63 (0.54 - 0.74)), outdoor leisure (aOR 0.64 (0.46 - 0.88)), or visit a hairdresser (aOR 0.72 (0.61 - 0.85))). No statistical association was observed between deprivation and infection (P=0.5745), with those living in areas of greatest deprivation no more likely to become infected with SARS-CoV-2 (aOR 1.25 (0.87 - 1.79). Conclusion: The lack of association between deprivation and infection is likely due to the increased engagement in non-essential activities among the least deprived balancing the increased work-related exposure among the most deprived. The differences in activities highlight stark disparities in an individuals' ability to choose how to limit infection exposure.

Individuals living in deprived areas of England and Wales left home to go to work and used public transport more frequently than people living in less deprived areas of the country when under tight lockdown restrictions. They were also more likely to develop SARS-CoV-2 infection. Understanding whether these differences changed once restrictions were lifted is important to understand whether deprivation-related discrepancies in infection risk changed throughout the pandemic. We found that, after the removal of lockdown restrictions, people living in areas of the greatest deprivation continued to leave home for work or use public transport more frequently than those not living in areas of deprivation but they were less likely to visit either indoor or outdoor hospitality or leisure venues such as cafes, restaurants, bars, cinemas, theatres or visit a hairdresser or beautician than people living in areas with little deprivation. They were no longer more likely than those living in areas with little deprivation to become infected with SARS-CoV-2. This is likely because people living in areas with little deprivation were visiting hospitality and leisure venues more frequently than during lockdown and were increasing their exposure to infection in these settings, balancing out the increased infection risk posed through work and public transport to those living in deprived areas. The fact that people living in areas of deprivation were most likely exposed to SARS-CoV-2 infection through essential activities like work and public transport use while people living in areas with little deprivation were most likely exposed to infection through non-essential activities such as visiting a restaurant, pub, cinema or theatre, highlights stark disparities in an individuals' ability to choose how to limit infection exposure based on their deprivation status.

how these findings canPublic transport: lessons learned by the sector through the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the operations and functionality of the public transport sector in the UK. This paper reflects on the experience of this sector through the pandemic period, and considers recommendations for any future mitigations required for either new COVID-19 waves or a different public health emergency. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with public transport experts, organisational leaders, workers and passengers in two phases: Phase 1 from January to May 2021, and Phase 2 from December 2021 to February 2022. Interviews were analysed thematically. RESULTS: Using the 'What? So What? Now What?' reflective model, ideas are drawn out to describe (a) what changes occurred, (b) what effects these changes had on service provision as well as perceptions of risk and mitigation and (c) what lessons have been learned and how these findings can feed into pandemic preparedness for the future. Respondent reflections focussed on the importance of communication, leadership, and maintaining compliance. CONCLUSIONS: The wealth of experience gained through the COVID-19 pandemic in the public transport sector is extremely valuable. Through reflection on this experience, specific recommendations are made relating to these factors, covering: maintaining links across industry, access to information and data, understanding of mitigation effectiveness, improving messaging, challenges of behavioural mitigations, and clear lines of accountability. The recommendations made on the basis of this reflective process will help to improve public health strategy within the public transport sector.

A contingent publicness: Entanglements on buses.

A lacuna in our understanding of how publicness of public transit is being constituted is the primary point of departure for this paper. In recent times, publicness has been articulated through two parallel readings - one, a political economic reading that sees publicness through static macrostructural constraints; and two, micro-sociality aboard public transit manifests an in situ and spontaneous public space. Moving beyond the static and the spontaneous, we articulate a dynamic co-constituted notion of publicness. Building upon recent work that examines the entangling of micro- and macropolitics onboard public transit and relying upon a mobile ethnographic approach revolving around situated observation and interviewing surrounding buses located in the Indian metropolis of Bengaluru, this paper offers publicness as a contingent entity that is constituted through the process of transiting.

Awareness, perceptions and challenges among public transport operators during the implementation of COVID-19 preventive measures in eastern Uganda: a qualitative study.

Background: Public transportation plays a vital role in increasing transmission of COVID-19 due to the high-risk confined spaces in vehicles. It is therefore very crucial to employ the use of COVID-19 prevention measures during the use of public transportation to reduce risk of COVID-19 transmission. The success of the implementation and use of these measures depends largely on the public transportation users. We aimed at exploring the awareness, perceptions and challenges among public transport operators during the implementation of COVID-19 preventive measures in Eastern Uganda. Methods: This qualitative study was done in Eastern Uganda between January and February 2021. We conducted four focus group discussions, six in-depth interviews and three key informant interviews to document the awareness, perceptions and challenges faced by public transport operators including 10 boda boda riders, 19 taxi operators and 11 truck (cargo) transporters. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using NVIVO software Version 12 plus using a thematic framework approach. Results: Generally public transport operators were aware of that COVID-19 exists, its symptoms, how it's transmitted and ways in which it can be prevented.. However, they were not aware of what causes it and had misconceptions that it's spread through food and mosquitoes. Meanwhile some participants perceived COVID-19 as non-existent and that it was manufactured as a biological weapon. Some COVID-19 measures were perceived as having worked well during the pandemic like putting sanctions at the country borders, vaccination, observing hand hygiene, wearing a face mask, avoiding to touch the 'soft parts', quarantining in a hospital setting and social distancing. The COVID-19 preventive measures perceived as having not worked well were: home isolation, covid vaccination, using alcohol-based hand sanitizer, setting up curfew time, wearing a face mask, and reducing the number of passengers in the taxis and other public transportation vehicles. Challenges faced were mainly: financial loss resulting from reduction of passengers that used public transportation and setting up of curfew time, passengers not being able to use alcohol base hand sanitizer due to religious beliefs, loss of trust in public transportation by the public, hostility and defiance from passengers, competition for passengers among public transport operators and being mistreated by implementers of COVID-19 preventive measures like police. Various key players in the implementation of COVID-19 preventive measures included: the government, health workers, media, leaders in public transport and the police. Conclusion and recommendation: Our study brings to light insights on the likely challenges that impede the use of preventive measures in public transportation use during an epidemic / pandemic like COVID-19 which could potentially escalate transmission. Focus should be put to the demystification of myths on COVID-19. Public transport passengers should be sensitized on risk of COVID-19 transmission during public transportation use and on the importance of complying with COVID-19 preventive measures. We recommend further exploration on the challenges faced by the public transportation passengers in implementing preventive measures in the event of an epidemic like COVID-19.