It's now or never

Weeks after being reelected as governor of Jakarta for the second time, Sutiyoso has yet to come up with a clear plan to deal with the city's traffic and ground transportation system.

For example, he does not seem to be doing anything about a specific plan to remedy the traffic chaos in the capital city, but about the continuation of the construction of the 52- kilometer segment of the uncompleted Jakarta Outer Ring Road project, which was halted due to the economic crisis. However, as many observers have suggested, constructing new toll roads is a short-term solution that will not cure the city's perennial transportation illness.

Transportation expert Djamester Simarmata, for instance, believes that the construction of new toll roads would only encourage people to buy their own cars, rather than use public transportation, one obvious reason being that public transport is considered unsafe and uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, the city administration has failed to formulate a grand plan to respond to the traffic problems despite its awareness that an integrated transportation system is needed.

At the end of the 1980s the paradigm of city development changed and the Jakarta administration started talking about developing the city along its east-west axis instead of north- south, as had been the case up to that point. Unfortunately, the road and transportation system was never properly developed to match the growth of residential neighborhoods and office buildings.

In the late 1980s, a former official at the Ministry of Public Works who was working for a company owned by President Soeharto's daughter Siti Hardijanti Rukmana, introduced a plan for an overhead monorail commuter train service, called an "aeromovel" system, utilizing Brazilian technology.

With 34 terminals at certain locations, the train would have been able to carry about 15,000 passengers per hour. Supported by another mode of transportation on the feeder lines, the aeromovel would ply the Blok M-Kota (south-west and south-north) route.

The aeromovel integrated system was expected to answer the need for a mass rapid transit system for Jakarta at that time.

However, the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), which at that time was chaired by B.J. Habibie, did not seem to approve of the plan, which it deemed ill-suited for Jakarta.

Later, in the early 1990s an O-Bahn Rail Bus system, to be built with German technology, was offered to solve the city transportation chaos. The O-Bahn would also serve the Blok M-Kota route. With a 30 second interval between departures, the bus would be capable of carrying about 10,800 passengers per hour.

The city administration looked interested in the O-Bahn bus system, which is also used in Essen, Germany and in Adelaide, Australia. Despite these two promising offers, the city administration and the Ministry of Transportation have used neither of them even as traffic has grown more and more chaotic by the day.

As things stand at present, Jakarta's traffic system is deteriorating. Constant traffic congestions, which inflict some Rp 2.67 billion in daily losses for motorists, continue to occur. Obviously, such a situation cannot be allowed to remain uncorrected. And the figures do not include losses suffered by those who are forced to be late to their offices due to the congestion.

Jakarta, at present, has 6,500 kilometers of road to accommodate some four million cars and motorbikes. While the number of vehicles increases from day to day, the length of the city roads apparently remains stagnant. The result is that the city's roads, including the urban toll roads, can no longer accommodate the number of vehicles.

Jakarta's urban toll roads, which are designed to accommodate only 65,000 cars a day, are now used by at least 200,000 cars per day. Building new artery roads seems impossible. There is no more open space left in Jakarta, which is already overcrowded with around 12 million daytime residents. The city administration must revive its plan to establish an integrated transportation plan which involves a mass rapid transit system (MRT), using the most suitable and affordable technology.

It is now or never. It is no exaggeration to say that the current uncertain security situation combined with the constant traffic congestions are not only a headache for Jakarta's residents, but are also a factor that could deter prospective investors from planting their money in this city.

If the city administration fails to establish an appropriate integrated transportation system for Jakarta, we will surely face more serious problems in the future. In the next one or two decades the situation could become even more complicated with the number of vehicles increasing at an uncontrollable rate.

Ofyar Z. Tamin, a Bandung-based transportation expert, suggested that the existing railway system must also be improved and made into a part of the integrated transportation system.

While selecting the best technology to be used for the MRT system and seeking financial sources to fund the project, the city administration must do everything it can to solve traffic problems by clearing vendors and illegal parking areas from the city streets.