From May 15 to August 9, 2020, the average number of people looking for walking directions in Italy increased by 119 percentage points. We also noted the same trend in France, Germany, the UK and the States, although lesser in volume.

We also found that consumers are driving more. Apple’s data revealed the average number of consumers looking for driving directions in the countries we studied increased 89 percentage points from May 15 to August 9, 2020.

Again, Italy was driving this trend. From May 15 to August 9, the percentage of people looking for directions driving in Italy increased 181 points. We noted increases in the other countries we studied, but not to this level.

Meanwhile, public transportation is still taking a hit. For Apple Maps users, we learned that the average number of people looking for directions on public transport in the countries we studied decreased by 24 percentage points from March 1 to August 9.

It’s only Germany and France who are back on board. In fact, on average, there are now more people using public transportation in Germany and France than there were in January and February.

In some countries consumers will choose the option which suits their journey, but in other countries, such as Italy, the UK, and the US, consumers will opt for personal transport.

A look at the social data

Using our Consumer Research platform, we looked at English-language mentions of people cycling, driving, or taking the bus, train, subway or tube, from January 2019 to August 9, 2020.

Cycling had the largest conversation increase of all the types of transport we looked at, with mentions increased 28% since March.

Walking and driving mentions also saw the same rise. We learned that mentions increased 71 and 36 percentage points respectively from March to July.

Interestingly, mentions of driving are only just beginning to take off — a contrast to Apple’s data. We should note that we only looked at English-language mentions, while the difference could also be explained by people not wanting to show they were driving about during a pandemic.

Meanwhile, conversation about public transportation is yet to return to normal. In July, public transport conversation was eight percentage points off of pre-pandemic levels.

These are difficult times, but understanding consumer behavioural patterns like transport, and the motivation behind them, can help us understand the nuance of the crisis, and even play a role in preventing Covid-19’s spread.

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Brandwatch Response Team