The new normality will rely more than ever on the use of private vehicles

We are in the final hours of August and, with it, of the peak holiday period in Spain, with the uncertainty of, quite literally, “what will happen tomorrow”.

As for the return to work, despite the push for teleworking, the return of those who cannot carry out their duties remotely is met with the wariness or, quite simply, fear that exists of catching, or even more so being infected by, the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19 and the pandemic we are living through, and which has drastically changed our reality, giving rise to what has been dubbed the new normal, which, far from being normal, represents the most disruptive context experienced in the last century.

Be that as it may, from 1 September onwards, those who are obliged to travel within cities to their workplace have made up their minds: most opt either to walk or to use a private vehicle. This is clear from a study by the consultancy Oliver Wyman on Spanish habits.

This conclusion supports the one drawn earlier in the summer by RACE, which pointed to an unprecedented boost in the use of private vehicles after the lockdown easing, resulting in heavy everyday traffic density.

Be that as it may, this new analysis, which captures the pulse of the public, shows that, on the one hand, individual use of road transport is preferred, and, on the other, public transport is the big loser, along with shared transport services, whose activity is seriously threatened by the distrust involved, in either of these two cases, in using a vehicle that has already been used by someone else.

45% say they are reluctant to travel by bus, but up to 53% of users of shared vehicle schemes are wary of this mobility option, which consists of hiring a car or motorcycle for a set period of time.

Motorcycles, bicycles and electric scooters could be the big winners

And if anything, anyone or anybody could benefit from the fear of the new coronavirus, it would be the new mobility. Turning the disastrous situation we are living through on its head, the promotion of physical distancing between people triggers the fear inherent in human beings to protect themselves, using every means at their disposal, and the first of these is walking alone.

91% of respondents say that their way of getting to work will be on foot; before the pandemic, only 15% did so.

Now, the change in urban transport habits could be favoured by this environment, in the sense that a transformation of the urban transport paradigm could occur, promoting the use of other more environmentally sustainable individual vehicles, where electric scooters, bikes and e-scooters, or not, could become the new priority options for purchase and use, given their low acquisition and maintenance costs compared with alternatives such as the private car.