Jakarta races against time<\/p>\n
Willy Tumewu, Senior Lecturer, Transportation Engineering,
\nBandung Institute of Technology, Bandung, West Java<\/p>\n
Traffic congestion in Jakarta is severe simply because the
\ndemand for transportation far exceeds supply. Thus,
\ntransportation in Jakarta is costly compared to the services
\noffered, and caters to only the most necessary purposes.
\nCommuters have to leave home early in the morning and return late
\nat night; workday peak periods have been extended and already
\ncover most of the daylight hours; precious time is being wasted
\nduring commutes. What can be done? Reduce demand, increase
\nsupply, or a combination of both?<\/p>\n
The demand for transportation increases with higher economic
\nprosperity. During this economic crisis some 10 million to 15
\nmillion trips are being made each day in the capital. To reduce
\nthese trips would be detrimental to economic development. Half of
\nthese trips are made by public transportation, and this is not a
\nbad statistic.<\/p>\n
The supply of transportation in Jakarta is mainly from its
\nroad network, with a small contribution from the trains serving
\nGreater Jakarta. How much road space is adequate? At present only
\nsome 6 percent of the land area is used for roads, while in major
\nEuropean cities roughly one-fifth of urban areas is used for
\ntransportation infrastructure, and twice this in cities in the
\nU.S.<\/p>\n
Clearly there is a strong case for increasing the supply of
\ntransportation, but this should be done wisely through careful
\nplanning of the land use-transportation system. Public
\ntransportation should be made the backbone of the system. Urban
\nrevitalization should be linked to mass-transportation
\ndevelopment. For instance, the presently proposed busway system
\nwould merely optimize available roadspace, whereas a subway or a
\ntriple-decker system would increase transportation supply.<\/p>\n
We do not have to reinvent the wheel. A lot can be learned
\nfrom past experience. European cities were rebuilt after World
\nWar II with an eye toward U.S. cities, which were already at a
\nmore advanced stage. The development of eastern Berlin was a
\nsecond opportunity for German planners to test their theories.<\/p>\n
In Asia we can look at what is happening in Kuala Lumpur,
\nManila, Bangkok, Taipei, Seoul, Shanghai and Shenzen. But time is
\nnot our side. The Jakarta intraurban toll road system was started
\na quarter century ago and part of the outer-ringroad is still
\nbeing tendered out. And in the meantime, demand for
\ntransportation has outgrown the additional supply being
\nprovided.<\/p>\n
The 1977 Indonesian Highway Capacity Manual states, among
\nother things, that an efficient road network is one without
\ntraffic congestion, perhaps as in Singapore. Congestion increases
\nthe cost of transportation dramatically through an increase in
\ntravel time, vehicle operating costs and air and noise pollution.<\/p>\n
Estimates of congestion costs in Jakarta range from billions
\nto trillions of rupiah per year, and these costs have to be borne
\nby the economy as a whole. A policy on land use-transportation
\nsystems for major urban centers is badly needed.<\/p>\n
If by some miracle the land use-transportation system in
\nJakarta changed overnight into a smoothly flowing system, what
\ncould possibly happen? A new equilibrium would be reached where
\nthe attractiveness of Jakarta would invite more people and their
\nbusinesses to migrate to the capital, until congestion and
\nopportunities were again on a par with those in other cities.
\nThis makes any remedy for Jakarta traffic congestion dependent on
\na successful national urban land use-transportation policy.<\/p>\n
Car ownership in Indonesia is still low. At present two-thirds
\nof all motorized vehicles in Indonesia are two wheeled; in the
\nyear 2001 some 300,000 vehicles were sold plus 1.65 million
\nmotorcycles. Nationally, only one-sixth of all motorized vehicles
\ncomprise cars.<\/p>\n
As the fourth most populated country in the world with many
\nmega-population cities, car travel should not be the favored
\ntransportation solution for the larger cities. This would imply
\nthat almost all provincial capitals need a mass transportation
\nsystem as part of their land use-transportation systems.<\/p>\n
It would maybe take at least another quarter century for all
\ncities to solve their land use-transportation issues if they
\nstarted today. The present system of regional autonomy should be
\nutilized to develop regional centers into more attractive
\nlocations as compared to Jakarta. But until then, Jakarta traffic
\nhas to continue to suffer, despite all efforts at improvement.<\/p>",
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