Jakarta a huge metropolis with traffic congestion to match

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta is the one metropolis in Southeast Asia without a clear transportation policy as evidenced here daily by the hectic traffic jams.

There are so many horror stories about how residents have to get up at dawn just to get to their workplace or school on time without being caught in the traffic jams.

Many attribute this condition to the fact that there is an extremely high number of private vehicles -- some 4 million private cars and motorcycles -- registered in the city.

With registered Jakartans numbering more than 8 million people, this figure means that there is one vehicle for every two residents.

But of course less than half of Jakartans own a private vehicle. On the other hand, there are many residents who have a small fleet of cars at their disposal.

Despite the high number of private vehicles, public transportation is still always crowded and packed, especially during peak hours.

Compared to the private vehicles, the number of public transport vehicles seems like a minor fleet.

Jakarta has some 25,000 taxis operated by more than 30 companies while City Transportation Agency's data reveals that there are at least 4,530 large buses, 4,978 medium-sized buses and 11,848 public minivans. About 40 percents of the buses, however, could not operate due to their poor condition.

The public vehicles are to serve the majority of the population plus those living in the nearby cities and regencies of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi.

These cities and Jakarta form an entity known as Jabotabek or simply Greater Jakarta, with a total population of some 20 million.

The large number of vehicles here cannot move in a comfortable way because there is a very limited road network of some 6,500 kilometers (km) in Jakarta or some 41.5 square km of area, according to the City Public Works Agency.

As a rule of thumb, according to experts, a city needs some 10 to 30 percent of its area to be dedicated to roads. Hence, with a total land area of some 650 square km, Jakarta needs an absolute minimum of 65 square km and ideally some 195 square km of roads.

Unfortunately, Jakarta has only managed to reach two-thirds of the absolute minimum required.

Financial constraints have become the city administration's most expedient excuse for its failure to increase the number of roads here.

Statistically speaking, the administration has only been able to provide about 1 percent growth of road networks in recent years, which is far behind the increase vehicle numbers, which ranges from 8 percent to 12 percent per year.

The construction of flyover bridges or underpasses, for example, can significantly reduce congestion caused by traffic lights at busy intersections but there are more things needed to ensure a smooth flow of traffic.

However, once a flyover bridge (or an underpass) is built bypassing an intersection, others must also be built down the line to prevent a bottleneck of vehicles at the next intersection.

Building more flyover bridges of underpass also requires money, which obviously the administration is unwilling to allocate.

Five projects started in September, while the construction of three others began in 2001. The one in Penggilingan, East Jakarta, has been just completed. Unfortunately, the other construction projects are behind schedule, adding to the city's traffic woes.

Another thing that worsens traffic jams are the street vendors, which clog most roadsides.

They usually operate in or near strategic places such as busy intersections, markets and terminals and many have their stalls on sidewalks and even occupy the road itself, obstructing the traffic flow.

Even the construction of toll roads cannot guarantee smooth traffic in the long term.

The government's decision to continue the halted Jakarta Outer Ring Road (JORR) project this year drew both praise and criticism on whether JORR would be able to solve Jakarta's chaotic traffic problem.

Toll roads can offer a partial solution in the short term as it adds to the total amount of road networks. However, it is just like giving pain killers to cure cancer.

The comprehensive answer, however, still has to be found for the long term.

The presence of a mass rapid transit (MRT) could be the answer to the chronic problems of traffic congestion while at the same time would reduce air pollution. A tentatively proposed MRT could carry some 40,000 passengers per hour in a given direction.

But an MRT itself is not capable of solving traffic congestion without being connected to other modes of transportation to carry the passengers to their final destinations.

The absence of good feeder networks would mean that the commuters would essentially be stuck at MRT stations.

Each MRT exit would likely become another source of traffic as dozens of undisciplined public transport drivers would wait for passengers, blocking the traffic again.

In other words, an integrated transportation system is a must. And Jakarta should work in cooperation with the administration of the other cities in Greater Jakarta.

Jakarta stated its plan for an MRT project many years ago, but complains about lack of funding and nothing gets done.

In 1995 a Japanese, European and Indonesian consortium planned an MRT project which would span 15 kilometers from Jl. Fatmawati in South Jakarta to Kota area in West Jakarta.

The project, estimated to cost more than US$1.5 billion, was estimated to be completed within five years.

The Japanese government had given its commitment to finance the project. But it was postponed when the financial crisis hit Indonesia in mid-1997. The project was halted also because the Japanese government reportedly felt concerned about the security here.

The amount of money to build the system is obviously large, but in the long run, it is expected to give benefits for all of the city residents. A rough estimate made by the city administration showed that traffic congestion inflicts losses of US$900 million annually. This does not include the stress and other problems such as getting to work late and lost productivity.

Governor Sutiyoso vowed that the project would start during his second-term, but there has been no elaboration about when it would actually begin. The only thing has been done was that the city administration allocated last month a place at the City Hall as a joint office with the Japanese consortium.

And in 2002, instead of realizing the plan, the city administration was busy discussing the controversial busway project. They promised that the busway would have been operational by last December. But it is later postponed until at least eight months due to "technical problems".

The original plan was to provide a special lane designated for buses along the main thoroughfare from Blok M to Kota.

It was calculated that the busway system would carry some 10,000 to 27,000 passengers per hour in a single direction.

It was initially estimated that the project would cost Rp 50.8 billion, but last week, the administration said it would be increased to Rp 90.25 billion.

While it is clear that the planning of the busway system is poor, its effectiveness still remains to be seen.

Poor planning is actually common within the administration. The paradigm of the city development has changed about two decades ago when the administration started to develop the city along its east-west axis instead of north-south. The road and transportation systems, however, were never properly developed to match the growth of residential neighborhoods and office buildings.

Unfortunately, we will still have to endure horrendous traffic congestion in the capital for many more years until the administration gets its act together.