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.