The socio-economic characteristics of individual and group have been found to significantly have an impact on their mobility and travel behaviour. Hence, this study examined the influence of socio-economic characteristics of households in the Rural areas of Nigeria on trip making. The study adopted the multi-stage sampling technique method where 12, 365 registered buildings were systematically selected out of a total of 28,341 buildings. Systematic sampling technique was used to survey 4 percent of households, representing 495 household heads of a total 12,365 registered buildings by means of questionnaire administration. The study revealed that majority of the respondents were between the age of 60–69 years and utilized the non-motorized (walk & bicycle) means of transport. The result of the multiple regression analysis further revealed that Age and Income were the significant socio-economic variables influencing trip making of households. This study thus advocates the influence of demographic attributes on households’ travel behaviour. Therefore, rural communities should be given equal privilege as urban areas when formulating transport policies as a result of their unique and distinct socio-economic attributes.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unforeseen effects in public transport and the mobility of people in cities globally. Johannesburg, being a developing city in one of the most affected countries in Africa during the pandemic, has experienced severe changes in traffic management and travel patterns as a result of the restrictions imposed on movement. Hence, this study examined the spatial variations in traffic during the pandemic. The study utilized data obtained from the TomTom Traffic Index for the city of Johannesburg from 2019 to 2021, with 2019 representing the period pre-COVID-19 with no lockdown restrictions, 2020 representing the period with restricted movement to limit spread of COVID-19, and 2021 representing a period of relaxed and minimized restrictions on movement. Our findings revealed that there was a variation in congestion levels between 2019–2021 with year 2020 having the least congestion from the beginning of the COVID-19 restrictions due to regulations enforced in movement and reduced travel. Our findings further revealed that traffic congestion was higher during weekdays than weekends during the three periods, with mini-bus taxis as the major contributors to congestion. Consequently, there is a need to discourage the use of single occupancy vehicles and invest in more sustainable means of transportation to ease the mobility of people and reduce traffic on major roads.

There have been numerous studies on the impact of COVID-19 on mobility in most developed countries; however, few of the studies have focused on the impact of the pandemic in developing countries, especially in Africa. In view of this, our study examined the impact of the pandemic on residents’ transportation mode choice in South Africa. This study adopted the use of both primary and secondary data obtained from TomTom statistics and an online survey of respondents’ mobility patterns before and during the pandemic. The questionnaire was administered through emails, and respondents were asked to provide information about their socio-economic characteristics, travel characteristics (before and during COVID-19), and the effect of COVID-19 on their travel patterns. A multinomial logistic model was adopted for analysis, and the findings revealed that variations existed in trip frequency, trip purpose, and mode choice of people before and during the pandemic. It was also discovered that respondents shifted from the use of public transport to private cars during the pandemic as a result of the implications for their health. Based on this, we propose that an enabling environment and an efficient transport planning technique should be adopted by the government and relevant stakeholders in the transport sector. This will integrate all modes of transport to reduce the over-reliance on private automobiles and also to encourage the use of non-motorized transport (walk/cycle) for sustainable transport planning in the future.

This study examines the relationship between household travel and telecommunication use with data collected from 498 participants in Akure metropolis, Nigeria and finds that a positive relationship exists between telecommunication and travel. While the substitution effect of telecommunication on the trip was not significant in the study, the result of the multinomial logistic regression revealed telecommunications complements travel more than substitute.