Post-COVID-19 Travel Patterns: UT Austin Survey

This paper addresses the question "What is the post-pandemic travel behavior at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin)?" It is based on a travel preference survey distributed to the whole UT community during the spring of 2022. The respondents were asked to report their commuting to and from the UT campus/research centers after the university announcement to resume all in-person classes and campus operations. The questions included information about frequency, time, and purpose of commute as well as the mode of transportation used. The results of the survey clearly illustrate the persistence of the hybrid mode of operation and the failure to return to full-in person operations. About 43% of undergraduate students, 34% of graduate students, 28% of faculty, and 28% of staff commuted five days a week to campus. Respondents expressed their tendency to use the car mode as it is the fastest way to get to campus and due to the lack of transit options available to them. To understand how travel patterns are evolving post-COVID-19, this survey could be repeated annually to analyze the shift in travel behavior as we gradually move to the "new normal" for operating conditions. This survey will help researchers and decision makers better develop travel demand modeling assumptions.