The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on global social and economic development, including the transport sector. To prevent the spread of COVID-19, individual states had to take radical measures, including the closure of schools, offices, and businesses. At present, an extraordinary situation persists in the Slovak Republic in connection to the COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to influence the behavior and decisions of passengers when using public passenger transport. Anti-pandemic measures in the Slovak Republic were reflected in a decrease in the mobility of the population in public passenger transport; the change in mobility manifested to different extents in individual regions of the Slovak Republic. Our research at the regional level is focused on the Žilina self-governing region. The net impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was clear through a year-on-year decrease in the number of total passenger transport systems for suburban bus transport (SBT) in ŽSK by 40.2% in March, in April by 70.0%, and in May by 60. 2%. There was a more significant decrease in the number of passengers in the first wave of the pandemic in the first half of 2020 than during the second wave of the pandemic in the second half of 2020. The decrease in demand was most pronounced in April 2020 in pupils and students aged 15 years (−89.3%), in children under 6 years (−85.7%), and in seniors over 65 (−80.0%). A time series of past demand for SBT in the Žilina self-governing region, including data from the pandemic period used for forecasts of single-criteria, reduced the reliability of estimated future values of demand. Estimated future demand values are an important part of SBT’s transport service plans for ensuring an adequate supply of transport services in order to maintain demand.

Transport is key for our economy and society, as good transport infrastructure helps to improve the mobility of citizens and the flow of goods. The European Union intends to maintain support for the development of transport infrastructure in the individual Member States. The aim of this study was to use correlation analysis to compare selected parameters of the road and railway infrastructure of Japan and selected EU countries. The significance of the correlations between various parameters characterizing the transport infrastructure of Japan and selected EU countries was tested. Correlation analysis is not typical in transport-oriented research. Several studies have employed such analysis; however, the majority of them have focused on passenger transport and correlations concerning the behavior of the customers of this mode of transport. The aim of this study was to answer the following research question: is there any correlation between transport performance and infrastructure or investment in infrastructure in relation to the mentioned countries, and, if so, is there a connection between the selected countries where this correlation occurs? Greater investment can also be expected in the construction of high-speed railways, given the decisions of some EU Member States not to resume national air transport where there is good railway infrastructure, even after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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In most cases, the availability of seaports is declared through availability isochrones based on the distance determined by the beeline, what is a very simplifi ed manner of determining the availability of seaports and presenting their benefi ts to customers. Therefore, the paper aimed to determine the availability of selected seaports in Europe on the basis of the proposed methodology using a professional route planner for road freight and distance directory managed by UIC (International Union Railways) for rail freight. The intermodal transport terminal in Žilina, Slovakia and eight seaports from seven European countries were selected to verify the proposed methodology for the assessment of time availability. Time availability is one of the key factors in the choice of mode of transport by carriers and also for the use of seaports. The scientifi c benefi ts are in the design of the methodology and its application to real conditions with the evaluation of outputs for the individual transport route. The contribution also assessed the impact of other factors aff ecting the observance of planned transport times in rail and road freight transport. Sažetak U većini slučajeva raspoloživost morskih luka objavljuje se s pomoću izokrona raspoloživosti koji se temelje na udaljenosti prema najkraćoj putanji, a to je pojednostavljen način određivanja raspoloživosti morskih luka i prezentiranja njihovih prednosti klijentima. Stoga je cilj ovoga rada bio utvrditi raspoloživost odabranih morskih luka u Europi na osnovi predložene metodologije uporabom profesionalnog planera rute za cestovni prijevoz i priručnik s izračunatim udaljenostima koji vodi UIC (Međunarodna željeznička unija). Intermodalni prijevozni terminal u Žilini (Slovačka) i osam morskih luka u sedam europskih država odabran je kako bi se provjerila predložena metodologija za utvrđivanje vremenske raspoloživosti. Vremenska raspoloživost jedan je od ključnih čimbenika u odabiru načina prijevoza od strane prijevoznika te za odabir morske luke. Znanstveni doprinos rada očituje se u izradi metodologije i njezinoj primjeni u stvarnim uvjetima, uz procjenu učinaka za pojedinu transportnu rutu. Doprinos također predstavlja procjena utjecaja drugih čimbenika koji utječu na praćenje planiranog vremena za željeznički ili cestovni prijevoz.

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