Congestion causes stress, sickness
Congestion causes stress, sickness
By Rita A. Widiadana
JAKARTA (JP): Life is hard enough in Jakarta, even without
traffic jams destroying the health of drivers and people who take
public transportation. Some people choose to look at the jams in
a positive way, others recognize their gravity.
"I know that I can't avoid traffic jams so I just enjoy them.
I always spend my 'extra time' on the road by double-checking my
daily plans, reading the newspaper and listening to good music,"
said Donny Suhadi, a young executive for a foreign company, about
his way of coping with Jakarta's traffic.
He said that it takes him nearly two hours to get from his
house in Bekasi to his office on Jl. Jend Sudirman in South
Jakarta.
"My boss keeps reprimanding me for being late, but what can I
say? Should I go to the office at 5 a.m.?" Donny asked.
Ratnasari Dewi, an employee at a private bank in Kota, added
that it is quicker to take the KRL rapid light transit train from
her home in Bogor to the office than to drive.
"Although that means I have a sauna every day on the crowded
train, it takes me only 30 minutes to reach my office," she
explained.
Aside from the humidity on the train, the short is quite fun.
Ratna often makes new friends and even met her recent boyfriend.
They are the exception. Most of the city's 9 million people
are sick of and getting sick from the congestion.
Susy, a 20-year-old university student, must take a bus to her
campus in crowded Grogol in West Jakarta.
"Taking a bus is a nightmare for me, especially when I have a
class early in the morning. The bus is always crowded, I am
pressed in like a sardine. Added to this, most bus drivers are
careless. All I can do is pray that the bus arrives safely at the
campus," Susy said.
"A traffic jam in Jakarta is comparable to cancer. It hits all
parts of the city, yet there is still no way to solve the
problem," said Bambang S. Pujiyanto, a senior expert on
transportation engineering at the Agency for the Application and
Assessment of Technology.
"It is very difficult to find the centers of congestion
because traffic jams occur on all major roads," Bambang
explained.
Bambang added that many smaller streets in new residential
complexes are also clogged.
"There are only a few streets that are congestion free," he
said.
The current system cannot cope because buses, minibuses and
the light rapid transit systems cannot carry the increasing
number of passengers in Greater Jakarta. The population rose to
an alarming 17 million in 1993. Today there are 9.7 million
commuters traveling from the Botabek (Bogor-Tangerang-Bekasi) to
Jakarta every day. The population is expected to increase 3.6
percent to 23 million by 2015.
"Jakarta badly needs a mode of transportation that can carry a
great number of passengers in order to cope with the city's rapid
development over the next 30 years," Bambang said.
Ideally, a city that has a population of 1 million should have
a mass rapid transportation system, like a subway.
Statistics show the enormity of the traffic problem in
Jakarta.
* The city suffers Rp 337.5 million to Rp 123 billion in
losses a year. The data is based on the gasoline burned in
traffic jams.
* Traffic jams also cause serious air pollution. The pollution
increases the number of patients suffering from heart disease,
lung cancer and hypertension. Each year 26 out of every 100
Jakartans die from these diseases.
* World Bank data shows that many companies have increased
their health allowances, from Rp 462 billion ($220 million) in
l990 to more than Rp 500 billion in l994. The continuing traffic
congestion, the data shows, has affected health of many employees
in stressed-out Jakarta. The data also reveals that the
congestion has caused physical and mental disorders in many
workers.
* There are 1.5 million vehicles in Jakarta. Some 86 percent of
which are private cars, 11.4 percent public vehicles, and 2.6
percent cargo and container vehicles.
* Jakarta has only 16,208 bajaj (three-wheeled vehicles),
14,016 public transportation vehicles, 9,371 small buses, around
7,900 medium-sized and big buses, 14,000 taxis and 2,559 tourist
buses.