Post-COVID-19 Non-Commuting Intentions in Nanjing, China: A Hybrid Latent Class Modeling Approach

The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on people's daily travel. Working from home remains a common practice, which reduces commuting travels. Non-commuting travels, such as travels for recreational purposes, are reduced. This type of travel is essential for people to regulate mental health and is an integral part of people's travel behaviors other than commuting travels. This paper aims to explore post-pandemic non-commuting intentions across different groups of residents. The survey was conducted in Nanjing, Related data included 586 valid samples collected online. A hybrid latent class choice model that combines sociodemographic characteristics and psychological factors was employed to understand residents' non-commuting intentions. Results showed that the samples can be divided into two groups: the 'cautious' group versus the 'fearless' group. The 'cautious' group with lower willingness to travel tended to be older, higher-income, and better educated female full-time employees compared with the 'fearless' group. Furthermore, the 'cautious' group had higher perceived behavioral control and seemed to be more obedient to government policies while the 'fearless' group was significantly affected by perceived severity and paid more attention to personal protection. These results suggested that non-commuting trips were influenced not only by individual characteristics but also by psychological factors.