Traffic Jams during COVID-19
Kakao COVID-19 Report, Part 4
The Kakao COVID-19 Report uses Kakao’s service data to give us a perspective on how we are trying to maintain our lives and create a new normal during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from January to June 2020, from multiple Kakao community and lifestyle services, including Kakao Talk, news, search, media∙contents, mobility, healthcare, e-commerce, fintech, artificial intelligence and social impact, were analyzed to create the Kakao COVID-19 Report. Our findings on the new normal, as are detailed in the Kakao COVID-19 Report, will hopefully be used as reference when building new strategies and policies for the future.
Part 1 is about how our lives have changed since the outbreak of COVID-19, told with data from Kakao’s many services.
Part 2 provides a more in-depth analysis by focusing on media and content consumption.
Part 3 is an observation of changes in peoples’ lives at home, seen with e-commerce and healthcare service data.
COVID-19 has spread at an alarming rate since the first case was confirmed in South Korea on January 19, 2020. The virus spread rapidly, with numbers in South Korea reaching more than one hundred newly confirmed COVID-19 cases by February 21, 2020.
On February 29, 2020, the South Korean government issued a social distancing measure throughout the nation. The main idea of social distancing is to minimize contact with other people. This signified that people had to avoid contact with other people while on the move.
The pandemic forced people to change the way they move around. Let’s take a look at the data and see how people moved from one place to another during these unprecedented times. The results of the analysis showed that people used their personal vehicles more and used public transportation less. The changes in transportation brought on by COVID-19 has created demands for changes in existing transportation policies.
# Sharp decrease in mobility, followed by a steady recovery
Let's first take a look at Kakao T Taxi operations (Refer to Figure 4-1). Kakao T Taxi’s weekly operations fluctuated parallel to the COVID-19 case trends until mid-February. However, in the first week of March, operations decreased by 38% than in the first week of January. The number of Kakao T Taxi’s operation was lowest at the end of February (Data from January to the end of June was used for this analysis). Kakao T Taxi operations made a rebound in March, and slowly recovered starting in April. The number of operations plunged dropped suddenly in May, due to the mass spread in Itaewon, and recovered gradually.
[Figure 1] Kakao T Taxi’s weekly operations (Completed drives, Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)Figure 4-2 illustrates Kakao T Driver's weekly usage, with January as the reference point. There was a sharp decrease in Kakao T Driver usage between the end of February and early March due to the coronavirus. However, usage of Kakao T Driver made a recovery in March. Like Kakao T Taxis, Kakao T Driver also saw a sudden plunge in May, due to the mass virus spread in Itaewon, and thus creating a graph that resembles a roller coaster.
[Figure 2] Kakao T Driver’s weekly operations (Completed drives, Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)Kakao Map's public transportation route feature demonstrated a similar user pattern. The number of users and usage of Kakao Map’s public transportation route feature increased in January 2020, but slowly started to decrease in the last week of January. In the last week of February, the number of users decreased 30% and usage of the feature decreased 45%, compared to the end of 2019.
[Figure 3] Users/usage of Kakao Map’s public transportation route feature (Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)In contrast to our early assumption that people would walk rather than use public transportation during COVID-19, the number of users and usage of Kakao Map's walking route feature plunged 40% and 60% respectively in the second week of January. The number of users and usage of the walking route feature both decreased until the end of February. Users and service usage increased slowly after March, but was unable to recover to those of pre-COVID levels by the end of June.
[Figure 4] Weekly users/usage of Kakao Map’s walking route feature (Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)# Higher demand for car navigation
There was higher demand for Kakao Navi, Kakao's car navigation service, demonstrating a stark contrast to other mobility services. Like most mobility services, Kakao Navi saw a plunge in usage at the beginning of the pandemic, but made a quick recovery. Usage of Kakao Navi rapidly increased during the holidays that spanned from the end of April to early May, and even recorded a higher percentage of usage in May when compared to May 2019.
[Figure 5] Kakao Navi’s weekly usage (Completed drives, Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)Let’s take a closer look at the distance users traveled using Kakao Navi, Kakao’s car navigation service. We compared users’ average travel distance through Kakao Navi and Kakao T Taxi to get a better understanding of user behavior. Compared to 2019, the distance users traveled using Kakao T Taxi decreased drastically, decreasing 6.2% in March, 12.2% in April, 13.2% in May and 13.6% in June.
However, the distance traveled with Kakao Navi did not decrease as much as Kakao T Taxi. The distance traveled decreased by 7.7% in March and slowly recovered in April and May, with a decline of 4% in April, 3.1% in May and 5.6% in June. Consulting firm, KPMG predicted that demand for automobiles would increase due to COVID-19. Their prediction appears to be accurate, because cars have now become the most important medium of mobility in the age of COVID.
[Figure 6] Average distance traveled using mobility services (March to June, 2019 vs. 2020)Now, let's take a look at user data of Kakao Map’s car route feature. Data shows that the number of users and usage of the car route feature decreased only by a little in late February. It’s also interesting that the frequency the feature usage rose sharply, compared to the number of users using the feature. This shows that usage per user has increased after the pandemic started.
[Figure 7] Weekly users/usage of Kakao Map’s car route feature (Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)No major changes were detected in the number of users or usage in Kakao Map’s bike route feature in January. However, noticeable shifts were seen as the COVID-19 pandemic continued. The number of people using Kakao Map’s bike route feature steadily increased from the first week of March. Usage of the Kakao Map bike route feature showed a steep rise in the first week of March, and by early April, its usage recorded an increase of 100% compared to the beginning of the year.
[Figure 8] Weekly users/usage of Kakao Map’s bike route feature (Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020)# Commuting during COVID-19, as seen with Kakao T data
1. Morning commute hours: Taxi calls increased after getting off from work at home
Compared to 2019, calls for taxis in the morning commute hours of March 2020 decreased by 34% at 7 a.m., 46% at 8 a.m., and 24% at 9 a.m. However, the number of taxi calls increased in June, when the number of COVID-19 cases reduced and most companies had their employees return to their work sites.
[Figure 9] Calls for Kakao T taxis during morning commute hours (Feb. to Jun. 2019 vs. 2020)2. Evening commute hours: Demands for taxis, sensitive to social distancing policies
Unlike the morning commute hours, calls for taxis during the evening commute hours started to decrease as early as February and recovered in May. This is because people call taxis during the evening hours, not only to commute back home, but to meet up with friends. The number of Taxi calls had decreased in February, after the Patient 31 was announced a super-spreader. However, when social distancing regulations were relaxed in May, calls during evening commute hours recovered at a faster rate than morning commute hour calls.
[Figure 10] Calls for Kakao T taxis during evening commute hours (Feb. to Jun. 2019 vs.2020)Data Analysis and Methodology
- The Kakao COVID-19 Report analyzes data retrieved from multiple Kakao community and lifestyle services, including Kakao Talk, news, search, media∙contents, mobility, e-commerce, fintech, artificial intelligence and social impact.
- Methodology: The data are presented in the form of a graph to show proportional data or percentages, (%) in order to illustrate the changes that occurred before and after COVID-19. The data were retrieved from (either the first week or the entire month of) January to June 2020 and for some analyses, to September 2020. Some data were excluded.
- Example: The graph below shows that the number of users increased by 50% on the fourth week of April, compared to the number of users in the first week of January 2020. On the y-axis, values above zero (0) represent an increase in frequency, whereas values below zero (0) represent a decrease in frequency.
Kakao COVID-19 Report
Part 1: COVID-19 and Kakao Data
Kakao aims for the results of the Kakao COVID-19 Report to serve as a resouce in overcoming times of crisis. We hope that the implications of our data analyses will be used in building wise and resilient strategies or policies to navigate uncertainties and explore new business opportunities.
All copyrights of the Kakao COVID-19 Report are reserved by Kakao Corporation. Kakao Corporation strictly prohibits the use of the Kakao COVID-19 Report for promotional, sales, or marketing purposes. Kakao Corporation authorizes the reproduction and use of the Kakao COVID-19 Report within the scope of the Copyright Act, provided that all copyrights are fully disclosed.
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