ASSESSİNG THE IMPACT OF COVİD-19(SARS-COV-2) PANDEMİC ON PUBLİC TRANSPORTATİON: ANALYSİS BASED ON ANKARA AND MERSİN PROVİNCES

Abstract

To measure how public transportation is being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, research study and analysis were carried out basing on monthly data of boarding passengers, revenue collected from passengers using public transport, and the number of people who are sick due to COVID-19 for 2018, 2019 and 2020 in Ankara and Mersin provinces. In the study, the change rates in the number of passengers boarding and collected revenue were given, and it was determined that the use of public transportation was less preferred when compared to the pre-pandemic period. In addition, the relationship between the number of daily use of public transportation in Ankara and Mersin provinces in April 2020 and February 2021, and the daily number of patients in Turkey were examined. Co-integration analysis has been made for the aforementioned data and it was determined that the data for both provinces were in a long-term equilibrium relationship. Again in the same period, Granger Causality analysis was conducted among the data and it was determined that the number of patients for Ankara Province was a Granger reason for the use of public transportation.