KONE Report Tells Story Of People Flow During COVID-19

KONE has analyzed data from its global elevator portfolio to tell the story of the flow of people in cities around the world over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a press release. The data collected covers the period from before the first lockdowns confined most populations to their homes to the present day, and provides an original data set for illustrating the return of people to workplaces, educational institutions, hotels and within residential buildings.

The report includes the following highlights: 

• In the top 10 European cities, the average number of elevator journeys plummeted 80% between February and April 2020. The return to office buildings in Paris, Munich, Helsinki, Berlin, Milan and Hamburg has remained at 60% of pre-pandemic levels since the start of this year, but data show that the return to the office slowed in November with the discovery of a new coronavirus variant in the second half of the month.
  
• Data for hotel elevators tells the dramatic story of the pandemic. From a monthly peak of over 22,000 starts per hotel elevator in September 2019, this number plummeted almost 90% to around 2,500 starts per hotel elevator by April 2020. Although the monthly number of average journeys in European cities recovered in October 2021, the numbers fell again in November. 
  
• The global picture shows national differences when it comes to the return to the office. Since January 2021, a more nuanced picture has emerged from KONE’s elevator data for office buildings, which reflects different COVID-19 strategies in individual countries.