City Police warn of worsening traffic on Jakarta roads

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

If you think traffic conditions in the capital are unbearable, then you had better work on upping your tolerance level, as reports say it is only getting worse.

City police said on Wednesday that at least 300 new cars and 1,200 motorcycles squeeze themselves into the city's crowded streets every day.

"The number of vehicles entering the city is not in accordance with the length of streets being constructed," city police traffic division chief Sr. Comr. Djoko Susilo said at Jakarta Police Headquarters.

Djoko said that at least 763,795 vehicles were purchased here this year, bringing the total number of vehicles to 6,390,919 units, or a 13.5 percent increase from 5,627,124 units last year.

"However, we only saw 70.4 kilometers of new road this year," he said.

As of the end of 2004, Jakarta has 7,634 kilometers road, showing a slight increase of 0.01 percent from last year's 7,563 kilometers.

Police also said Jakartans were spending more time on the road due to traffic jams.

"A 2000 survey showed that motorists needed almost an hour to reach Jl. Gajah Mada, Central Jakarta from Kalideres, West Jakarta, or a 75 percent increase from the time needed in 1985 for motorists to make the same 14.6-kilometer trip," Djoko said.

The survey also showed that motorists needed 15.9 minutes in 1985 to travel the 3.9-kilometer distance from Cileduk, South Jakarta to Mayestik, South Jakarta. The time increased by 57 percent to 25 minutes in 2000.

The survey is similar to a study released by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) late last year, which predicted that Jakarta's traffic would slow to a crawl by 2020, making 10 kilometers per hour (kph) on average.

The study showed that the average traveling speed of 14.75 kph at present would only reduce if the city administration did not take preventive measures.

The police do not appear to have any new solutions for the capital's traffic problem either.

"If you don't want to get caught in traffic jams, then, the administration has to build more roads, or you could park your cars at home," said Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani.

Transportation experts have stressed that new roads would only encourage people to use private cars due to the poor public transportation system here.

The jump in vehicle sales has also been fueled by the aggressive marketing efforts of car and motorbike producers. 001