Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Traffic Performance on Urban

Roads in Kupang City, Indonesia

Amy Wadu, Mateus R. Sodanango and Zulfiani Ar

Department of Civil Engineering, Kupang State Polytechnic, Adi Sucipto Street, Kupang, Indonesia

Keywords: Covid-19, Pandemic, Traffic, Volume, V/C Ratio.

Abstract: The relationship between transportation and people can also be seen when transportation is affected by

major changes in society, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The City of Kupang until this research was

carried out by the Government of the City of Kupang had extended the Implementation of Community

Activity Restrictions (PPKM) up to 4 times. Therefore measuring traffic performance is very important for

government agencies managing traffic and individuals planning trips, especially when special events occur.

The aim of this study was to measure the impact of COVID-19 on transportation to better guide institutions

and communities to respond appropriately to changing traffic patterns. This research was conducted with

basic principles based on the Indonesian Road Capacity Guidelines (PKJI2014) published by the Ministry of

PUPR. The results showed that due to this pandemic, the Cak Doko road segment was the road that

experienced the biggest change in the v/c ratio, namely from 2019 to 2021 the v/c ratio was 0.69, 0.29, and

0, respectively. 33. As for the other three roads, there were no significant changes due to the COVID-19

pandemic.

1 INTRODUCTION

Transportation plays a very important role in the

development of civilization by meeting the needs of

people's travel and transportation needs of goods. In

both developed and developing countries, most

people travel daily for work, shopping, and various

social activities (Hurwitz et al, 2015). Especially in

Indonesia, transportation is facilitated by several

modes, such as air, rail, highway, and waterways.

Most passenger trips are made by car for shorter

distances which means using the road. in traffic

engineering, it is known that given the travel

demand curve, the cheaper the travel costs, the

higher the demand. This effect implies that the

induced traffic does not depend on the capacity itself

but on the resulting reduction in travel time or cost

(Goodwin and Noland, 2003). As a result, the higher

the traffic demand, the higher the road congestion

and greenhouse gas emissions (Boriboonsomsin and

Barth, 2008), and it has also been shown that traffic

congestion impacts the economy by slowing down

economic growth (Sweet, 2014).

The link between transportation and people can

also be seen when transportation is affected by

major changes in society, such as the COVID-19

pandemic. In Indonesia itself, the first positive case

was reported on March 12, 2020, which then

continued with the discovery of cases in other

provinces. The City of Kupang itself found its first

case on April 9, 2020, and until the time this

proposal was written the Kupang City Government

had extended the Enforcement of Community

Activity Restrictions (PPKM) up to 4 times.

Therefore measuring traffic performance is very

important for government agencies managing traffic

and individuals planning trips, especially when

special events occur. The COVID-19 pandemic has

significantly affected almost every aspect of daily

life, including urban traffic patterns. Therefore, it is

important to measure the impact of COVID-19 on

transportation to better guide institutions and

communities to respond appropriately to changing

traffic patterns (Cui et al, 2020).

In a study in Greece it was proven that the

reduced traffic volume due to social restrictions by

the government, caused a slight increase in vehicle

speed by 6-11% from before the pandemic

(Katrakazas et al, 2020). In a study conducted by

Jenelius & Cebecauer (Jenelius and Cebecauer,

2020) they analyzed the impact of COVID-19 on

daily public transport passengers in the three most

Wadu, A., Sodanango, M. and Ar, Z.

Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Trafﬁc Performance on Urban Roads in Kupang City, Indonesia.

DOI: 10.5220/0010941600003260

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Applied Science and Technology on Engineering Science (iCAST-ES 2021), pages 161-166

ISBN: 978-989-758-615-6; ISSN: 2975-8246

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

161

populous regions of Sweden (Stockholm, Västra

Götaland and Skåne) during spring 2020, the decline

in public transport public transport (40% -60 % for

cross-regional transportation).

In a study conducted by Du (Du et al, 2021) that

reducing traffic demand is a very effective method to

reduce traffic congestion and air pollution. A 15%

reduction in traffic demand for a congested network

can result in a 60% reduction in delays.

Based on the above explanation about the current

condition of Kupang City and studies that have been

conducted in various places, the main purpose of this

study is to show the impact of PPKM in Kupang

City regarding COVID-19 on traffic volume in

relation to traffic performance in Kupang City. . The

results of this study will be useful for operational

and strategic planning of recovery efforts and for

dealing with future pandemics. Changes were

explored for 5 main road sections in Kupang City,

that i.e Timor Raya street, Soeharto street, Street

Sudirman, and Street Tom Pello.

2 TRAFFIC DURING COVID-19

PANDEMIC

As soon as the WHO gave COVID-19 a pandemic

status, countries around the world began to prepare

for closures of various types in the near future,

which translated into changes in daily travel

patterns, namely changes in the use of public

transport systems, but also resulted in a decrease in

volume. total traffic. Although a national disaster

emergency in Indonesia was declared on April 13,

2020 by the President, emergencies and stay-at-

home measures are implemented differently in

different provinces. However, in general, after a

gradual reduction in activity, the country began to

report a decrease in traffic volumes in mid-March.

The impact of this decline is very large for

commercial and recreational activities.

In a study in Greece it was proven that the

reduced traffic volume due to social restrictions by

the government, caused a slight increase in vehicle

speed by 6-11% from before the pandemic. During

March and April 2020, which are the months where

the spread of COVID-19 is at its peak. On the bright

side, accidents in Greece were reduced by 41%

during the first month of action triggered by

COVID-19 and driving in the morning (00:00-

05:00) the accident risk rate dropped to 81%. They

recommended that the government concentrate on

setting new speed limits and ensuring greater space

for cycling and pedestrians in order to increase the

distance between users to maintain a better level of

road safety and prevent the spread of COVID-19

(Katrakazas et al, 2020).

In research in the United States, in general there

is a 30% –50% decrease in traffic volume in mid-

April; then, in early May, traffic volumes started to

increase, and in late July and mid-August, traffic

volumes still remained about 10% below the

normally observed values (Goenaga et al, 2021).

3 RESEARCH METHODS

The research stages start from literature study, data

collection, data analysis, to the results in the form of

conclusions and recommendations for handling.

Beginning with a literature study, the main roads to

be investigated were identified as Timor Raya street,

Frans Seda Street, Piet A. Tallo Street and Tom

Pello street. This stage is carried out to find out the

traffic volume in 2021, namely during the

implementation of community activity restrictions

(PPKM) implemented by the Kupang City

government. At this stage, concentration points for

the study area were also carried out, which in 2019

and 2020 a traffic survey was conducted in order to

obtain accurate comparative data. With the scope of

the problems to be discussed. The analysis stage is a

follow-up after data processing is completed. The

purpose of this stage is to understand and analyze

the processing results in depth. The analysis was

carried out by comparing traffic conditions before

the COVID-19 pandemic and during the COVID-19

pandemic, namely with the PPKM policy by the

Kupang City government, with traffic considerations

based on the 2014 Indonesian Road Capacity Guide

(PKJI) (Gautama et al, 2021). Recommendations for

traffic operations during the pandemic and during

recovery from the pandemic to anticipate the

possibilities that will occur in depth in the future in

the event of a pandemic like this.

3.1 Road Geometric

Geometry is the shape and size of the road above the

ground surface both vertically and horizontally with

the assumption that the body / shape of the earth's

surface is uneven. The goal is to create a good

relationship between time and space according to the

needs of the vehicle concerned, to produce road

sections that meet the requirements of comfort,

safety, and optimal efficiency values. In building

highways, geometric roads are influenced by

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topography, social, economic and community.

The collection of geometric road data in this study

using the manual method was carried out directly at

the survey location by measuring road width,

sidewalk width, and parking layout, as well as other

data about roads related to this study using a meter.

3.2 Traffic

Traffic is a system consisting of components. The

first major component or a head way system (time

between two successive vehicles when passing a

point on a road) includes all types of infrastructure

and facilities of all types of transportation available.

3.2.1 Traffic Flow

Traffic flow is formed from the movement of

individual drivers who interact with one another on a

road segment and their environment. Traffic flow on

a road segment characteristics will vary both based

on time.

The survey conducted in this study was a

classified volume survey using the manual traffic

counts method in accordance with Pd.T-19-2004-B

concerning the manual traffic count survey, on 5

main roads in Kupang City, namely Street Timor

Raya, Street Suharto, Street Sudirman, and Street

Tom Pello. The survey was carried out by placing

the surveyor at a fixed point on the side of the road,

so that he could clearly observe passing vehicles at

the specified point. Data recording is filled in on the

survey form according to the vehicle classification

that has been determined. The implementation

period starts from 06.00 to 20.00 for 7 days.

3.2.2 Side Friction

Side friction are expressed as interactions between

traffic flow and roadside activities which can be in

the form of pedestrians, public transport and other

vehicles that stop, vehicles that run slowly, and

vehicles entering and leaving the land beside the road.

The side friction survey was conducted with the aim

of obtaining activities on the side of the road and

obstacles that are useful for calculating the capacity

of the road segment. This service was conducted on

a 200 meter/hour road segment according to the

2014 Indonesian Road Capacity Guidelines (PKJI).

The survey was conducted by 10 surveyors in 2

survey sessions (Session 1 at 06:00 to 14:00; Session

2 at 14: 00-20:00), in which each surveyor surveys

the number of pedestrians (pedestrians), stopped

vehicles, vehicles entering and leaving the side of

the road, and slow vehicles on each road segment.

3.3 Level of Service

Road service level analysis was conducted based on

the PKJI 2014 Indonesian road capacity guidelines.

The level of road service to passing traffic is usually

measured by the v/c ratio or commonly referred to as

the degree of saturation. The degree of saturation

(Ds) is the ratio between the traffic volume (V) and

the road capacity (C), the magnitude of which is

theoretically between 0 - 1, which means that if the

value is close to 1 then the road condition is close to

saturation.

Ds =

Where

Ds = Degree of Saturation

Q = Traffic flow (pcu/hour)

C = Capacity (pcu/hour)

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Traffic Composition

Based on the average daily traffic data in semester 1

of 2021 in Figure 1, it shows that the types of light

vehicles on the Frans Seda road section are the

highest, namely with 13207 vehicles/day for

direction 1 and 13862 vehicles/day for direction 2.

weight is the type of vehicle that passes at least the

four roads. As for the type of motorcycle vehicle, it

only dominates on the Timor highway with a total of

8159 vehicles/day for direction 1 and 6838

vehicles/day for direction 2. previously in the city of

Kupang motorcycles dominated (Wadu et al, 2020);

(Wadu et al, 2019) changed to the dominance of

light vehicles.

To see more details, see the percentage of types

of vehicles that cross the 4 main roads in Kupang

City in Figure 2. The percentage of motorcycles on

the Piet A. Tallo, Timor Raya, Cak Doko, and Frans

Seda roads, respectively, is 40.90%, 48.40%,

30.41%, 36.58%. This clearly shows that during the

pandemic the level of motorcycle use was not as

dominant as it was before the pandemic. There has

been a shift in the pattern of using motorized

vehicles by Kupang city residents. Based on the data

on the percentage of light vehicles in Figure 2 on the

Piet A. Tallo, Timor Raya, Cak Doko, and Frans

Seda roads, respectively, they are 55.56%, 42.36%,

66.22%, 59.94%. From the four roads, it can be seen

that light vehicles are only less dominant on the

Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Trafﬁc Performance on Urban Roads in Kupang City, Indonesia

163

Figure 1: Average Annual Daily Traffic 2021.

Timor Raya road, with a percentage of 42.36%,

while on the other three roads there are more types

of light vehicles, even on the Cak Doko road, the

dominance of light vehicles reaches 66.22%.

4.2 Traffic Volume Comparison Last 3

Years

Data on positive confirmation of COVID-19

in Kupang City obtained from

www.covid19.nttprov.go.id starting from the first

case found on April 9, 2020, then a spike began in

November 2020 with data as of November 1, 2020,

there were 154 cases. positive confirmed case of

covid-19. Even the number of confirmed cases rose

sharply in January. Based on data as of January 1,

2021, there were 993 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

The latest data obtained when this research was

conducted the number of positive confirmed cases in

Kupang City as of June 1, 2021 had reached 6937

cases. With the continued increase in the number of

positive confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Kupang

City, the Kupang city government itself has enforced

the implementation of community activity

restrictions (PPKM) since January 2021 and is still

ongoing until the time this research was conducted.

Figure 2: Percentages of Light Vehicle.

Figure 3: Traffic Flow on Peak Hour In The Last 3 Years.

Based on the traffic volume data in Figure 3, it

can be seen that the implementation of PPKM in

Kupang City does not have a large effect on peak

hour traffic volume in Kupang City. The impact can

only be seen on the Cak Doko road section which is

in the Educational environment, there are several

high school, junior high, and vocational schools

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

Piet A.

Tallo

Timor Cak Doko Frans

Raya

Street Names

Seda

2021 2020 2019

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

Percentage of HV

Percentage of MC

Stree

ames

0%-10% 10%-20% 20%-30% 30%-40%

40%-50% 50%-60% 60%-70%

16000

14000

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

Piet A. Timor Cak Frans

Tallo Raya Doko Seda

Street Names

MC direction 1 MC direction 2

LV direction 1 LV direction 2

HV direction 1 HV drection 2

Ann

ual

age

(

o F

ow (

pcu/h

our)

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164

where in 2019 before the covid-19 pandemic the

traffic flow reached 2189 units of light vehicles per

hour while in semester 1 of 2021 it occurred

decrease in peak hour traffic volume which only

reached 1057 units of light vehicles per hour. This

shows that the impact of online school from home

implemented by the government has a major impact

on traffic flow.

Meanwhile, on the other 3 roads, namely Piet A.

Tallo, Timor Raya, and Frans Seda roads, there was

no decrease in traffic volume during peak hours.

Even on the Frans Seda road, the traffic flow in

semester 1 of 2021 reached 2368 units of light

vehicles per hour, this is an increase when compared

to traffic flow in 2019 which only reached 1945

units of light vehicles per hour.

Based on the average daily traffic data in

semester 1 of 2021 in Figure 1, it shows that the

types of light vehicles on the Frans Seda road

section are the highest, namely with 13207

vehicles/day for direction 1 and 13862 vehicles/day

for direction 2. weight is the type of vehicle that

passes at least the four roads. As for the type of

motorcycle vehicle, it only dominates on the Timor

highway with a total of 8159 vehicles/day for

direction 1 and 6838 vehicles/day for direction 2.

previously in the city of Kupang motorcycles

dominated (Wadu et al, 2020); (Wadu et al, 2019)

changed to the dominance of light vehicles.

4.3 Roadside Activities

Based on the data shown in Figure 4, pedestrian

activities and on-street parking are the most

dominant activities occurring on 4 main roads in

Kupang City. Parking activity on the Frans Seda

road is the highest when compared to other roads,

with 106 frequency of occurrences per hour per 200

m. This happens because on the Frans Seda road

there is a Kartini hospital. Hospitals are the busiest

health centers during this pandemic. Meanwhile, the

highest pedestrian activity occurs on the East Timor

highway with the number of occurrences per hour

per 200 m reaching 88.

As for the side barriers that occur due to traffic

movements, Figure 4 shows that the incidence of

entering and leaving vehicles on the Frans Seda road

section is the most frequent, reaching 580 frequency

events per hour per 200 m. while the side barriers

due to vehicles slowing down on the road are not too

many on the four roads.

Figure 4: Side Friction.

4.4 V/C Ratio

Based on the v/c ratio data in Figure 5, it is shown

that as a result of this pandemic the Cak Doko road

segment is the road that has the biggest change in

the v/c ratio, namely from 2019 to 2021, the v/c ratio

is 0.69 in a row, 0.29, and 0.33. As for the other

three roads, there were no significant changes due to

the COVID-19 pandemic. On the Piet A. Tallo road

the v/c ratio from 2019-2021 is 0.80, 0.77, 0.82,

respectively, while for the Timor Raya v/c rato road

segment for 2019-2021 it is 0.51, 0.53, respectively.

0.55, and for the Frans Seda road the v/c ratio in

2019- 2021, respectively, is 0.73, 0.73, 0.89.

Based on the data in Figure 5, it further

illustrates that the PPKM carried out by the Kupang

City government only affects school activities. It can

be seen that the most significant decrease in the v/c

ratio only occurred on the Cak Doko road section

which is the center of education from junior high,

high school to vocational school. A slight increase in

saturation on the Frans Seda road that occurred due

to the presence of the Kartini Hospital on that road

segment.

Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Trafﬁc Performance on Urban Roads in Kupang City, Indonesia

165

Figure 5: V/C Ratio.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Based on the results and discussion, it can be

concluded that during the COVID-19 pandemic, in

the City of Kupang there was a shift in the use of

motorized vehicles from motorcycles to light

vehicles, meanwhile the implementation of

community activity restrictions (PPKM) carried out

by the Kupang City government only had a major

impact on roads that Usually there are school

activities that have little impact on other community

activities.

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