Did the COVID-19 pandemic influence mode choice and activity satisfaction?

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak had an impact not only on health but also on new lifestyle changes (economic and environmental), particularly changes in mode choice behavior. Government applied various restrictions such as limited gathering, mandatory face masks to prevent the transmission of pandemic’s spread. Restrictions changes personal decisions about which mode of transportation to use. This study highlighted changes in perspective towards mode choice. People prefer walking, cars, and motorbikes during the pandemic as they feel safer and cost-effective. Numerous studies related to activity satisfaction found daily activities, mode choice, and well-being form process and evaluation of an individual's satisfaction. This study focuses the relationship between public transportation (sustainable transport, safe, green, and efficient) to activity satisfaction levels caused by COVID-19 outbreak. Agglomeration Surakarta, Indonesia, has become the location for this study. The data was taken through of 402 respondents. The level of activity satisfaction is indicated using a Likert Scale. Bivariate analysis is applied to determine the most influencing in mode choice behavior amongst activity satisfaction. The result studies average travel time is 49.07 minutes/day. Travel time with the dominant mode used is cars reaching 55.51%, followed by non-motorized vehicles at 22.43%, motorbikes at 19.77%, public transportation at 1.83%, and ride-sourcing at 0.46%. It can be concluded that people choose to travel safely using private vehicles to avoid interaction with other people. However, using public transportation will provide less activity satisfaction than other modes of transportation. The research may be helpful to policymakers of public transportation in the future.