Green route may help Jakarta's transportation woes

Green route may help Jakarta's transportation woes

By Hera Diani

JAKARTA (JP): It seems a problem of the modern age: Traffic
jams leading to nowhere, suffocating air pollution from vehicle
exhaust and a public transportation system which runs on its own
haphazard timetable.

Is transportation in Jakarta a lost cause?

Not for environmental expert Otto Soemarwoto, who said there
were many ways to fix the problems -- and safeguard the
environment.

"The city administration will even increase its revenue if the
program succeeds," he told The Jakarta Post recently.

He proposed a system that focused on efficient public
transportation and car pooling, with disincentives, such as
higher taxes, for private vehicle use.

"The purpose is to create an energy-saving transport system in
order to improve efficiency. Efficiency makes fuel usage decrease
and thus it reduces gas exhaust emissions."

Lower emissions would also help reduce the problem of air
pollution.

Otto said the problem with the current policy was its emphasis
on privately owned vehicles as the backbone of the transportation
system, resulting in more and more vehicles on the road every
year.

The government's plan of action to deal with the problem is to
widen roads and build new ones.

"It goes on and on like that, like a vicious circle. More
vehicles cause more traffic jams. The roads are then widened or
the government builds new ones, and it results in more
vehicles ...," Otto said.

"It looks like building new roads hasn't solved anything, it
actually made things worse. Sides of the roads are also used as
parking space, which worsens traffic jams."

Resorting to building more roads is also not fiscally
feasible, he added.

"The United States, one of the richest countries in the world,
can't even afford that. But that's our common perception," said
the professor at Bandung's Padjadjaran University.

Because the government's fuel subsidy plays an important role
in the country's social and economic life, Otto said how energy
was used in transportation was also an important consideration.

The sedan ranks first for highest energy usage per kilometer
per passenger, even greater than airplanes, intercity trains and
intercity buses.

"The bigger the energy usage, the higher the government's
subsidy for fuel. That means the sedan gets the highest subsidy
yet those buying sedans are the wealthy," Otto said.

"The government should develop disincentives to hamper the
inefficient usage of cars. It means charging higher tax for car
users to reduce the subsidy given by the government and paid for
by people who don't use cars,"

Conversely, he said, the government should provide incentives
for public transportation and a pooling system for workers and
students.

Nonmotorized vehicles like bicycles are not accommodated in
the city's transportation system as there are no special lanes
reserved for them. Pedestrians are also overlooked, he said..

"Everything has been replaced by motorized vehicles, while
most of the cities in Indonesia are not big cities. Therefore, we
can assume that most trips are under five kilometers," Otto said.

Data from various foreign countries also found that on average
24 percent of car trips were for distances of less than one
kilometer, 46 percent up to three kilometers and 59 percent for
up to five kilometers.

Such short distances would probably best be covered by bike,
with no exhaust fumes and the added plus of a bit of
cardiovascular exercise for the riders. However, there are only
30 to 40 bikes per 1,000 people in Jakarta.

He said the government should encourage people to ride
bicycles or to walk by providing spaces for these activities.

But he contended that part of the problem hampering efforts to
promote walking instead of driving came from concerns about
social status.

"Government officials here are arrogant. In foreign countries,
top government officials, even prime ministers, take the subway
or ride a bike instead of using cars.

"Here, no officials will do it. They say it's not
appropriate."

Mass bicycle usage, he said, will encourage bicycle and spare
parts production, assembling and distribution.

"Based on the recent report from the United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT), Indonesia's bicycle market has
potential. The foreign market for bicycles also shows potential."

There may be other payoffs in revenue for the city and private
sector's coffers.

Qualitative observation in tourism, he said, showed that
tourists liked cities with infrastructure for walking and biking.