Excessive number of cars worsen traffic in rain

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Too many cars and too few roads is a recipe that's guarantee to cook up traffic congestion, particularly when the heavens open on the capital.

Ahmad Syafrudin of the Environmental Task Force said on Friday that the lack of roads compared to the number of cars in Jakarta was the principal cause of the city's congestion, which was aggravated when flooding reduced the number of road lanes that could be used by traffic.

"A small number of cars taking diversions to avoid flooded roads is enough to disrupt traffic across the whole city. It is like a domino effect," he told The Jakarta Post by telephone.

Ahmad also slammed Jakartans for leaving their workplaces and jumping into their cars at the first sign of rain.

"Jakartans usually think that they have to immediately go home or pick up their kids from school or their wives from the mall before the rain really starts pouring down," he said.

Torrential rain led to flooding in many parts of the capital on Wednesday and Thursday. The downpours caused heavy traffic jams in many areas of the city, including key thoroughfares Jl. Jend. Sudirman and Jl. M.H. Thamrin.

Many motorists sought alternative routes to avoid the floods.

The congestion was not only a nightmare for private motorists. Public transportation passengers had to endure being trapped inside overcrowded buses while would-be passengers were left stranded at bus shelters.

The heavy rain also forced motorcyclists to take shelter under flyovers, thus taking up one or more lanes of the road. This also contributed to the traffic woes.

Apart from urging the city to improve the drainage system, Ahmad also called on the city administration to issue a bylaw restricting car ownership in Jakarta.

Currently, Jakarta hosts over 4.7 millions vehicles -- ranging from private cars and public transportation vehicles to motorcycles. The number of vehicles on the city's roads is still increasing, while the city only has some 7,500 kilometers of roads to accommodate them.

Jakarta has no bylaws regulating the ownership of cars, despite the fact that experts consider such bylaws essential to rein in the growth in the number of vehicles on Jakarta roads, which currently stands at 8 percent per year.

Observer Alan J. Marino from the state-run University of Indonesia (UI) blamed the city's lack of roads for the congestion that occurs every time it rains.

"The floods reduce the area of the road that can be used by vehicles. While traffic jams are commonplace during the dry season, the situation gets worse when the rain comes as motorists drive more slowly," he told the Post.

Alan suggested that the government build more roads in the eastern and western parts of the city to access Bekasi and Tangerang, rather than the northern and southern parts of the city.

He also shared Ahmad's view that the uncontrolled growth in the number of private cars has worsened the traffic condition.

"We have seen an enormous growth in the number of cars in the city and the administration has not taken any action to stop it," he said.