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BIA-Brukerstyrt innovasjonsarena

Adaptive measures for non-private transport to the Covid-19 Pandemic (CODAPT)

Alternative title: CODAPT - Tilpasning til Covid-19 pandemien for transporttilbud rettet mot offentligheten.

Awarded: NOK 5.0 mill.

The urban mobility system is in a transition from a private car based fossil fuel burning system, towards a less polluting future. This sustainability transition has been taking place over the last decades. In Norway the most prominent policy drivers of this transition has been support mechanisms for EVs, and the zero-growth objective for urban mobility. The first focuses on reducing GHG-emissions within the current mobility regime. The second focuses on changing mobility behaviour away from the private car. In this situation the Covid-19 outbreak has come as a landscape level shock. How does this shock affect the ongoing transition? This projects looks into how the covid-19 shock influences the mobility sector along three different paths:1) focusing on labour, where the availability of support mechanisms is different between actors. The established actors are mostly operating on public contracts, where income risk is mostly faced by the public, through their public transport authority. The smaller and new actors on the other hand, face a massive drop in demand, while the support measures have mechanisms that limit the pay-out to these actors, as they have a deductible and use previous years? turnover as a reference. 2) focusing on effect on the sustainability transition, the project looks at how the covid-19 outbreak changes the use and perception of new and less polluting modes of transport. Apart from the obvious, compulsory and temporary adjustment in mobility behaviour, we investigates whether the outbreak accelerates or slows down the sustainability transition. 3) focusing on desired mode choice, the project looks at how a change in valuation of factors such as crowding on public transport, affect the social cost of such services. The project has developed a tool that help optimize the transport policy response, so that the objectives of maintaining accessibility and reducing the spread of the virus can be achieved at lowest possible social cost.

1) The project has helped understanding the distributional effects of market risk between new and traditional mobility services. This has resulted in project reports being extensively used in the (as of 2023) ongoing work on revising the Norwegian vocational transport act. The project lead has also been included in the committee working on the official Norwegian reports (NOU) on the issue. First NOU published in 2023, second to be published in 2024. 2) The project has created a better understanding of landscape level shocks. In particular we have provided insight into how the response of niche mobility actors differs based on business models (i.e., type of organization, operation and transaction). This applies to semi-established segments as car sharing as well as emerging segments as dockless micromobility. Some of this has resulted in contributions to publications that were mainly funded by other projects. With other publications still being in the pipeline. 3) The project was actively used in policy making during the pandemic, in particular to adjust recommendations related to public transport use. This work has later been developed into academic papers.

The transport sector and mobility solutions more broadly are in a transition from a private car based fossil fuel burning system, towards a less polluting future. This sustainability transition has been taking place slowly. In Norway it has its two most prominent features are the support mechanisms for electric vehicles and the zero-growth objective for urban mobility. The first, focuses on reducing GHG-emissions within the current mobility regime. The second, focuses on changing mobility behavior. The Covid-19 outbreak has come as a landscape level shock. This creates a situation that is sparsely described in academic transition literature. How does this affect the ongoing transition? We look into how the Covid-19 shock influences the mobility sector along three different paths. First, we focus on labor, where the availability of support mechanisms is different between new and established actors. Established actors mostly operate on public contracts, where income risk is minimal. The smaller and new actors on the other hand, face a massive drop in demand, while the support mechanisms have mechanisms that limit the payout to these actors, as they have a deductible and use previous years’ turnover as a reference. Second, focusing on effect on the sustainability transition, the project looks at how the covid-19 outbreak changes the use and perception of new and less polluting modes of transport. Apart from the obvious, compulsory and temporary adjustment in mobility behavior, does the outbreak accelerate or disrupt the sustainability transition? Thirdly, focusing on desired mode choice, the project looks at how a change in valuation of factors such as crowding on public transport modes, affect the social cost of such services. The project will develop a tool that can help optimize the transport policy response, so that the objectives, maintaining mobility accessibility and reducing the spread of the virus, can be achieved at lowest possible social cost.

Funding scheme:

BIA-Brukerstyrt innovasjonsarena