Jakarta needs to overhaul transport system
Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Over the past decade or so everybody in Jakarta has been complaining about the horrendous traffic congestion in the capital. Although new roads have been built and more public transport modes have been put in operation since then, things have changed only for the worse.
On working days, especially in the morning and afternoon, millions of cars and motorcycles clog the streets of Jakarta and its surrounding cities, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi.
Motorists have to spend more hours sitting immobile in their cars, trapped in seemingly endless queues of fume gushing motorized vehicles.
People residing in Jakarta spend about two hours every working day in the street to and from their workplaces, according to one estimate. And more than 1.2 million workers living in Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi spend around six hours every working day traveling between their homes and workplaces.
Theresia Kolondam says she spends Rp 400,000 (almost US$50) a week in taxi fares from her home in Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta, to her office, a foreign institution in Kemang, South Jakarta.
"I won't go by bus because it is not only unsafe and slow but also uncomfortable," she says.
To avoid heavy traffic, some people leave home for the office as early as possible.
Kristina Susilawati, for example, will leave at around 5:30 a.m. by car from her house in Ciputat to reach her office 15 kilometers away in Kuningan, South Jakarta. Usually she manages to arrive by 8 a.m. In fact, when traffic is light, she can cover the distance in 40 minutes.
"Being trapped in traffic is very stressful. I cannot work optimally on arrival at the office ...," she said, adding that she spends about Rp 350,000 a month on fuel.
Traffic in the city takes its toll on people's time, money, health and on the environment.
The Indonesian Consumers Foundation's (YLKI) 2001 survey showed that workers in Jakarta spend 20 percent of their monthly pay on transport expenses, while the "normal" level is 14 percent.
Transportation experts have estimated that traffic congestion wastes Rp 2.67 billion per day or almost Rp 67 billion a month in fuel and vehicle maintenance costs.
YLKI chairwoman Indah Sukmaningsih blames the traffic chaos on what she sees as an "ineffective" and "inefficient" transport system.
"So the remedy is to introduce an effective mass transportation system," she said.
On their part, Jakarta Police have blamed the traffic congestion on the rapidly increasing number of new cars, which has surpassed what the government's infrastructure can handle.
Up to Sept. 2003, the number of cars and motorcycles in Jakarta was registered at 4.7 million, or 7 million kilometers in total length, while the length of the existing roads totaled only 7.5 million kilometers.
The number of vehicles has increased by 14 percent annually with 700 new ones being purchased each day while the road grows only around 1 percent a year.
City administration spokesman Muhayat said the city had very little funds to construct new roads. The bulk of the money, he said, goes to the building of flyovers on major roads where traffic is extraordinarily heavy. He admits, however, that the flyovers are not entirely effective to ease traffic as a whole.
The lack of discipline among bus drivers, passengers and motorists has also contributed to widespread traffic jams in Jakarta. Drivers of city buses, and smaller angkot, are notorious for their reckless driving and dropping passengers anywhere they wish. It is also an increasingly common practice that drivers, motorists and motorcyclists run red lights.
Environmental activist Ahmad Safrudin says the city government has been unable to provide a better transportation system in accordance with Law No. 14/1999.
"To improve traffic flows, harsh action must be taken against reckless drivers and the public must be taught discipline," he says.
He questions why the Jakarta city council fails to put pressure on governor Sutiyoso to improve of the transportation system as part of the efforts to improve public service.
"In the afternoons, thousands spend a lot of time along Jl. Thamrin and Jl. Sudirman to wait for city buses that are already overcrowded. Blue collar workers ride on the roofs of commuter trains," he says, "This condition is actually a reflection of the government's ignorance of the poor transportation system."
The chaotic transportation system, according to transportation expert Alan Marino, is a political rather than technical matter. The governor has no political commitment to initiate a mass rapid transport system.
"The city administration has turned a blind eye to the public criticism in favor of the automotive industry. The governor should be wiser and start a mass rapid transportation system, such as a commuter train network linking all areas in the city and the outskirts," Marino says.
Marino proposes a redesign of the capital's transportation system.