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Driving Behavior and Customer Handling of Urban Public Transportation Drivers and Operators Before and After the COVID-19 Outbreak in Ethiopia, 2022

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Abstract

Globally, COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on human life, every aspect of social and economic sectors including transportation system and operations. This study examined the driving and customer handling behavior of public transportation operators before and during the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia. Mixed research, pre-/post-study design, protection motivation theory, and binary logistic regression models were used to guide the development, quantification, and analysis of the causal relationships of pandemic-related constructs on driving and customer handling behaviors. Driving behaviors were examined in terms of harsh speeding and braking concerning the time period before and during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in both Hawassa and Addis Ababa city. The level of friendly handling and care of public transportation operators to customers could operationalize and measure customer handling. Data were collected through surveys and interviews with various modes of public transportation operators. Accordingly, it is found that factors related to new COVID-19 pandemic and response measure mainly infection risk fear; transport restrictions were the most significant factors impacting driving behavior during the pandemic. During the pandemic, driving frequencies and intentions, as well as driving decisions, were significantly influenced and reduced, compared to pre-pandemic scenario. Harsh driving behaviors such as harsh speeding, harsh braking, and wrong-side driving became more frequent but customer handling behaviors were also predominantly unfriendly. The performance of protection motivation theory was relevant to inform, guide the study, and understand the actual impacts. Thus, policymakers must learn from the harsh lessons of COVID-19 pandemic and make bold investments in preparedness, prevention, and response, including adaptive and pandemic-sensitive strategies and customer-oriented strategies.

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Fig. 1

Source: Adapted from Cox et al. [12] and Rogers [45]

Fig. 2

Source: Computed using survey data, (2022)

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Data availability

The dataset is available upon request to the author.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Professor Samson Kassahun regarding the guides about where and how to publish articles. Besides, the support of Ethiopian Civil Service University through a partial finance as staff development program for data collection is gratefully acknowledged.

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  1. Department of Transport Planning and Management, College of Urban Planning and Engineering, Ethiopian Civil Service University, P.O. Box 5648, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Kassa Moges Tareke

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Tareke, K.M. Driving Behavior and Customer Handling of Urban Public Transportation Drivers and Operators Before and After the COVID-19 Outbreak in Ethiopia, 2022. Transp. in Dev. Econ. 10, 3 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40890-023-00190-x

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