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As we are submitting this report in December 2020, COVID-19 has had a complex and multifaceted effect on public transport (PT) and its use. The emergence of the virus altered both who used PT and how these users experienced their journeys. This study complicates the fear-focused narrative that often framed PT during the COVID-19 crisis. It highlights diverse experiences of PT, which yet are often socially unequal. This report details the design and outcome of a multi-sited study investigating PT during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study began in March 2020 as part of PUTSPACE, an international research project supported by the Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA). It consisted of an online survey (n=1095) and series of semi-structured follow-up interviews (n=49). The survey and interviews solicited information about PT users’ mobility behaviour after the outbreak of COVID-19 as well as their experiences on and perceptions of PT during the initial months of the pandemic. Responses came from four geographical regions; Estonia (Tallinn), Sweden (Stockholm), Belgium (Brussels) and Germany (Berlin, Dresden, Munich). It is significant that most of our insights produced in the survey and interviews echoed similar observations across the studied regions.

This working paper lays out the rationale and conceptual background of thinking of public transport as public space. The purpose of the paper is to provide an overview of current debates surrounding the conceptualisation of public transport as public space from the point of view of public space and critical transport/mobility literatures, to identify research needs, and to discuss possible multidisciplinary approaches for further work. The paper is published in the Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde's Forum IfL series.

This working paper lays out the rationale and conceptual background of thinking of public transport as public space. The purpose of the paper is to provide an overview of current debates surrounding the conceptualisation of public transport as public space from the point of view of public space and critical transport/mobility literatures, to identify research needs, and to discuss possible multidisciplinary approaches for further work. The paper is published in the Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde's Forum IfL series.