Switching costs of citizens’ behavior change as a tool of post-pandemic urban transport policy: the case of St. Petersburg

The goal of this study was to discuss possibilities to use Covid-19 as a context situation to change citizens’ transportation behavior. The concept of switching costs is applied to construct algorithm for search of suitable post-pandemic urban transportation policy tools based on analysis of citizens’ transportation behavior and transportation mode choice factors before and during Covid-19 pandemic. To accomplish the goal this work provides analysis of St.Petersburg citizens’ survey results. The study examines what changes in the transport preferences of citizens have occurred. The reasons that contributed to changes in transportation preferences were analyzed. One of the conclusion states that context (objective) changes influence transportation behavior of just some groups of citizens. For others the greater role in post-pandemic transportation behavior is played by subjective factors of transportation mode choice. So, we conclude that those subjective factors should be used to construct switching costs to preserve positive transportation behavior, and switching benefits to avoid negative transportation behavior, which occurred during Covid-19 pandemic.