Violations of mobility restrictions during COVID-19 in five Indonesian cities: A reflection of transport policy-practice gap

Abstract

Since the detection of the first COVID-19 case in March 2020, the Indonesian government has implemented various mobility restrictions as a policy response to address the pandemic. To date, violations of mobility restrictions have been discussed in relation to public health risk, but rarely analyzed in terms of understanding the transport policy-practice gap. Using content analysis of news media from March 2020 to May 2021, this article identifies individual actions and institutional factors enabling violations of mobility restrictions. Our findings infer a policy-practice gap regarding operationalization, institutional issues, and lack of consideration of target groups’ behavior. These findings provide insights for transport policy formulation in uncertain times, such as the post-pandemic, especially in the context of rapidly growing Asian cities.