Urban commuters wary of using public transport when lockdown measures relaxed; private vehicles, solo ridership preferred, finds survey

After the coronavirus outbreak and government announced lockdown, people are becoming increasingly wary of using public transport and almost 70 percent of users of Yulu said they would prefer to hire or ride their own vehicles.

The survey by Yulu, a micro-mobility service provider, was conducted among over 1,500 users randomly selected from its userbase of 2 million in the 6 megacities of India to identify their micro-mobility choices and commute pattern post-COVID-19 lockdown.

In the times of social distancing, public utility would not be preferred for the next few months, said respondents in the survey. However, this is a similar refrain across the globe as well. The London Metro for instance said that commuters can expect to see queues outside London Underground stations as social distancing has to be maintained.

Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak

Given the requirement of social distancing, solo ridership will be preferred to the group, and driver-led shared mobility options. Clearly, when asked about users’ commute choices post-lockdown, the results revealed a considerable increase in people opting for personal vehicles, as opposed to group mobility and public transport, the survey found.

"As we transcend towards the new normal, it is interesting to note that there is a surge in the demand of solo and sanitized mobility solutions. We are witnessing a V shape recovery with 1.6X growth in the percentage, said Amit Gupta, Co-Founder & CEO, YULU.

Respondents opting for personal vehicles increased by 19.8 percent, public transport saw a staggering drop of 24.6 percent, cab-hailing/ auto rickshaws saw a drop of 8.6 percent, the survey results said.

The survey results indicated 22 percent of the users preferred to rent a vehicle for the long-term and not share the vehicle to be extra safe and protected. Yulu has introduced a long term rental plan that lets the users rent the vehicle for a flexible time period up to 60 days. The long term rental enables the users to request a doorstep delivery, battery swap and also allows them to pick up any vehicle from the nearest Yulu Zones.