Strategy 5. Transform mobility
The frequency and types of trips will change as a result of the large-scale
adoption of flexible work hours (flexitime) and telework, as well as changes suchas increases in telework due to “workations” (work + vacation), and home
relocation. 7 If such patterns increase in the wake of the pandemic and thechanges become more firmly established, the impacts of those changes will also
affect mobility needs.
Key points for achieving the SDGs
1. Adopt infectious disease protocols for public transportation: Each mode oftransport should continue to comply with guidelines to control COVID-19. It
is also important to adapt with an expansion of contactless customer service.
Such infectious disease protocols and barrier-free measures need to beachieved together. This means developing public transportation while also
advancing infectious disease protocols and without leaving anyone behind.
It will also be necessary to reexamine business models based on local needs
so that synergies can be achieved with climate change countermeasuresand energy-related goals.
2. Maintain infectious disease protocols and resilient public transport
infrastructure: The issue of dealing with local public transport, which hasbecome unprofitable due to reduced ridership, is an important challenge forachieving Goal 11. It will be important to switch to alternative transportationand to introduce mechanisms and policies to use renewable energy to meetthe increasing energy demand needed for individual modes of mobility. For
example, as the demand for deliveries increases with the growth of ecommerce and home delivery businesses, the wall between freight andpassenger transport is lowering, cargo and passengers are both being
carried, and local renewable energy businesses are growing. Because of this,the use of a German type of municipal utilities (known as Stadtwerke),
which utilize profits from renewable energy sales to subsidize unprofitable
services, may also help to sustain public transportation. When doing so,

7

OECD (2020): OECD Policy Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19): Cities policy responses,

44pp.

Strategy 5.

transportation must respond to the diversification of work styles and needs(e.g., there may be fewer business trips but workers who have relocatedfurther away may travel regularly to offices in the city center).
3. Create sustainable tourism: Triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic,
strategies for new forms of tourism are emerging, such as microtourism,“workations,” and online tourism (viewing a location without physicallygoing there). 8 The tourism industry needs to identify how it can move
forward and meet changing customer needs, and needs to take measures
to stimulate domestic tourism demand in ways that are tied to local
economic development, such as the promotion of “workations.”
Key targets to help achieve the SDGs
3.6 (Halve the number of deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents)
3.9 (Reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from air pollution, etc.)
6.6 (Protect and restore water-related ecosystems)
8.5 (Achieve decent work)
9.1 (Develop sustainable and resilient infrastructure)
9.2 (Significantly raise industryʼs share of employment and gross domestic
product, in line with national circumstances)11.2 (Provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transportsystems)

8Japan Tourism Agency (2020): “Policy plan to prevent pandemic spread and restore tourism

demand” (in Japanese), 3-7pp.

Strategy 5.