Dr. Kerstin J Schaefer gave a keynote on a joint project with Dr. Leonie Tuitjer about (Im)mobility and COVID at the annual meeting of the German AK Mobility and Transport at LMU Munich. This case study in the Hanover Region shows that suburban towns are most affected by mobility reductions during COVID, that women are more worried more about health implications of using public transport and that immobility can be a burden but also a privilege for some social groups.
She also presented her work on the project “digital access to mobility”. She explained the potential for exclusion of public transport apps building five categories of app functions from all German public transport apps. This shows that digital ticketing has the highest potential to exclude people with limited digital access. Moreover, findings from interviews with transport planners show that more diverse perspectives on the question “who profits from public transport apps” are needed and that cost saving digital solutions in some areas might substitute analogues ones in the long term, emphasizing the importance of coming up with inclusive solutions.
