Jakarta needs to overhaul transport system

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.