Mobility Is mobility recovering around the world?

Data on auto congestion, public transit, and the number of people going to work (foot traffic) provides a glimpse of whether activity is starting to get back to normal around the globe.

04 Jun 2020
  • US auto congestion has bounced back from a late-May dip, while use of public transit and foot traffic to work are rising slowly.
  • All three measures in Canada are also recovering.
  • Congestion in Brazil and Argentina has fallen sharply, though foot traffic has continued to rise from late-March lows.
  • Auto congestion in Germany has recovered to pre-COVID-19 levels. It has also risen sharply in France, though it has dipped in the UK.
  • All countries examined except the UK have seen significant increases in use of public transit.
  • The UK is also a laggard in foot traffic to work.
  • Japan has seen a downtick in congestion, and public transit is trending down.
  • Australia is seeing a steady rise in all three measures.
  • Relative congestion in Indonesia has fallen to nearly zero, while foot traffic to work has been steady and public transit has risen modestly.
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Americas mobility

Notes: All migration figures are measured as relative metrics vs. a base rate. The auto congestion base is the base congestion score for a given day in 2020 relative to the average congestionfor the comparable day in 2019; public transit data is indexed to the value registered on January 15; foot traffic data is indexed to the baseline median value for the corresponding day of theweek during the 5-week period Jan 3–Feb 6, 2020. For public transit, population-weighted country figures were derived from baseline city figures. The data is further normalized to removeweekends and several key holidays (country by country), which create abnormal trends in the data. Relative auto congestion is presented as a percent difference from 100%. Please seedownloadable asset for the full methodology or underlying data. Source: UBS Evidence Lab, TomTom, Moovit, Google LLC "Google COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports" Accessed: June 1,2020

European mobility

Notes: All migration figures are measured as relative metrics vs. a base rate. The auto congestion base is the base congestion score for a given day in 2020 relative to the average congestionfor the comparable day in 2019; public transit data is indexed to the value registered on January 15; foot traffic data is indexed to the baseline median value for the corresponding day of theweek during the 5-week period Jan 3–Feb 6, 2020. For public transit, population-weighted country figures were derived from baseline city figures. The data is further normalized to removeweekends and several key holidays (country by country), which create abnormal trends in the data. Relative auto congestion is presented as a percent difference from 100%. Please seedownloadable asset for the full methodology or underlying data. Source: UBS Evidence Lab, TomTom, Moovit, Google LLC "Google COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports" Accessed: June 1,2020

APAC mobility

Notes: All migration figures are measured as relative metrics vs. a base rate. The auto congestion base is the base congestion score for a given day in 2020 relative to the average congestionfor the comparable day in 2019; public transit data is indexed to the value registered on January 15; foot traffic data is indexed to the baseline median value for the corresponding day of theweek during the 5-week period Jan 3–Feb 6, 2020. For public transit, population-weighted country figures were derived from baseline city figures. The data is further normalized to removeweekends and several key holidays (country by country), which create abnormal trends in the data. Relative auto congestion is presented as a percent difference from 100%. Please seedownloadable asset for the full methodology or underlying data. Source: UBS Evidence Lab, TomTom, Moovit, Google LLC "Google COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports" Accessed: June 1,2020