Agata Kliber

Poznań University of Economics and Business,

Poznań, Poland

E-mail: agata.kliber@ue.poznan.pl

ORCID 0000-0003-1996-5550

Fear or price? Vulnerability of the interest in green transport to COVID dynamics and fuel prices in V4 economies

Blanka Łęt

Poznań University of Economics and Business,

Poznań, Poland

E-mail: blanka.let@ue.poznan.pl

ORCID 0000-0001-5107-1456

Pavel Řezáč

Transport Research Centre CDV,

Brno, Czech Republic 

E-mail: pavel.rezac@cdv.cz

ORCID 0000-0003-1585-1409

Abstract. The article seeks to verify the possible impact of the COVID-19 and the increase in fuel prices related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the consumers’ interest in sustainable transportation. In order to achieve this objective, the conducted analysis focused on the search intensity in Google for the phrases related to public transport (e.g., "timetable") and non-oil vehicles (e.g., "bicycle", "electric bicycle", "electric scooter", "electric car") in Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic (January 2020 - end of February 2023). Non-linear ARDL models were constructed for these search intensities. Two explanatory variables were employed: the COVID-19 case intensity and the consumer prices of fuels in the selected countries during the specified research period. The findings indicate that the popularity of public transport was most affected by fuel prices and COVID intensity. However, in most cases, increasing petrol prices contributed to the growing popularity of electric cars, but not of electric scooters and bikes.

Received: March, 2024

1st Revision: January, 2025

Accepted: March, 2025

DOI: 10.14254/2071-789X.2025/18-1/4

JEL Classification: R41, R49, Q56, D12

Keywords: fuel prices, COVID, electric vehicles, bicycles, public transport, sustainable transport