Influence of trip distance and population density on intra-city mobility patterns in Tokyo during COVID-19 pandemic

TL;DR

This study analyzes how COVID-19 infection rates and non-compulsory lockdowns affected intra-city mobility in Tokyo, revealing that both factors significantly reduced long-distance and crowded place visits, with lockdowns acting as effective risk alarms.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence on the impact of infection and policy measures on urban mobility patterns during COVID-19 in Tokyo.

Findings

Long-distance trips decrease with higher infection cases.

Crowded place visits decline during lockdowns.

Second lockdown was less effective than the first.

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of infection cases of COVID-19 and two non-compulsory lockdowns on human mobility within the Tokyo metropolitan area. Using the data of hourly staying population in each 500m$\times$500m cell and their city-level residency, we show that long-distance trips or trips to crowded places decrease significantly when infection cases increase. The same result holds for the two lockdowns, although the second lockdown was less effective. Hence, Japanese non-compulsory lockdowns influence mobility in a similar way to the increase in infection cases. This means that they are accepted as alarm triggers for people who are at risk of contracting COVID-19.