Do key informants and commuters share the same thoughts on modal shifts? Reflection from in-depth interviews conducted during COVID-19 in Dhaka, Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

In this reflective praxis, we share our experience of conducting in-depth interviews with key informants and commuters’ in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We conducted the study in 2020 and explored the perspectives of health, transport and urban planning practitioners and young commuters in Dhaka on potential transportation mode shifts amid COVID-19. From our experience and observation, we saw that commuters emphasized the barriers and challenges they face during the pandemic which key informants also acknowledged. On the other hand, health professionals were more specific on the underlying reasons behind possible transmission risks than commuters. Additionally, key informants shared an abstract and theoretical view of the potential of mode shift, which would appear to be influenced by their formal knowledge of European cities’ transportation policies and strategies rather than their lived experiences. Our understanding is that there is a difference in the thought process between key informants and commuters based on how they experienced the transportation system and their knowledge of other systems and thus how they defined the transportation problem and possible solutions.

KEYWORDS:

• Key informants
• commuters
• qualitative research
• in-depth interview
• lived-experiences

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shaila Jamal

Shaila Jamal is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Human Geography, University of Toronto Scarborough where her research mostly involves mobilities in suburban neighbourhoods. She holds a PhD in Geography from McMaster University. She has published over 30 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Her research interests include travel behaviour analysis, intersectionality in transportation, ICT and travel behaviour interrelationships focusing on marginalized populations and the global south. Currently, she is exploring different co-design approaches to ensure meaningful participation of marginalized communities in transportation planning and decision making.

Sadia Chowdhury

Sadia Chowdhury is a Ph.D. Candidate at the School of Earth, Environment and Society at McMaster University. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning and a Master’s degree in Disaster Management. Previously, she worked for master plan preparation as a Transport Planner for Capital Dhaka of Bangladesh. Her research interests include transit network design, modal shifting behaviour, and transport policy. Currently, she is investigating how transit usage behaviour has changed throughout the pandemic to prepare people-centric transport solutions.

K. Bruce Newbold

K. Bruce Newbold is professor in the School of Earth, Environment, and Society at McMaster University. Prior to joining McMaster, he taught in the Department of Geography at the University of Illinois. His research interests fall at the nexus of transportation, mobility, health, and aging, and he has received funding from NSF, SSHRC, and CIHR. He has authored or co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications and has held guest scholar positions at the University of California San Diego and the University of Glasgow.