Facing the reality
Facing the reality
The Jakarta city administration seems to need some new ideas
in dealing with its efforts to put an end to the city's notorious
traffic debacle. After so many statements by city officials on
the importance of the continuation of the three-in-one traffic
policy, newly installed Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said after
meeting with President Soeharto on Monday that he planned to
abolish the system because it had been proven ineffective.
The policy bars any private car with less than three
passengers, including the driver, from entering certain areas of
the city during morning rush hours.
The general, who was commander of the Jakarta Military Command
until recently, seems to have been watching the management of the
traffic problem here and the confusion the three-in-one system
produced daily. It seems that he has not been impressed by
statements from city officials who have defended the policy since
its introduction in 1992 by claiming that it was the best
available way to overcome the traffic congestion in Jakarta's
main thoroughfares.
Since the reality in the field blatantly contradicts official
statements, people tend to believe that the administration, which
saw no other alternative, wanted to enjoy the unpopular debacle.
The show has evolved into a face-saving farce.
We watch the chaos and confusion on our city's streets with
frustration because during the first months the system actually
seemed to show promise. However, it quickly became a source of
mockery for teenage school children who laughed at the logic
behind the decision.
Some primary and secondary school students, for their part,
have looked to make a small profit helping the rich manipulate
the policy by offering their services to play the part of second
and third passengers. Poor young people, far from being well-
dressed and whose families cannot afford to send them to school,
seem to believe that they too deserve to take advantage of the
system.
Attempts to stop this twisting of the law have been totally
nonproductive, as mercenary riders easily duck away from police
who try to uphold the original intent of the policy.
Phenomenal traffic jams occur as children wait along the side
of busy streets for drivers to use their services while they play
a hide-and-seek game with law enforcers. It is difficult to
understand that city officials have not interpreted these
derisive actions as being nothing but scorn for their policy.
Jakarta's traffic woes are perhaps the worst in the world, and
tomorrow does not hold any promise for better conditions because
the number of cars here increases daily.
If hearing is believing, Jakartans now own 2.1 million cars --
meaning that if all of these vehicles were driven at the same
time, the Jakarta-Surabaya 800-kilometer-long road would not be
long enough to carry them. The capital city has only 6,000
kilometers of road, and its total area is no larger than 661
square kilometers.
The problem in Jakarta might be overcome if it had the road
infrastructure of Los Angeles plus the subway system of London
combined. This, of course, would be too expensive for Jakarta.
Equally implausible is the idea to introduce monthly stickers
for entering certain congested areas during rush hours. Such a
system would be highly unworkable because there would be so many
loopholes. Stickers can easily be counterfeited. Monitoring the
roads for systematic enforcement would be impossible, while the
fines erratically imposed on traffic violators would only enrich
traffic officers.
So as we swallow the fact that we live in such an overcrowded
city of over nine million people, we can be consoled by
statements from newcomers from developing countries that Jakarta
must be heaven for the rich because there are no old cars to be
seen.