Jakarta traffic to increase by tenfold

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Motorists in Greater Jakarta have long complained over the difficulties in traveling fast from one point to another especially during peak hours.

Some say it is because of the large number of vehicles while others point to the fact that there has not been any significant development in road networks for years.

What most of us may not realize is that there has been a huge increase, almost 10 fold, in traffic flow according to the latest survey conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as part of the Study on the Integrated Transportation Master Plan for Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi (SITRAMP).

The survey's result was made public over the weekend during a limited discussion involving a number of transportation experts as well as members of the media.

The survey found that the "to work" trips had increased 9.4 times since 1985 when a similar study was conducted for the first time.

The study recorded 716,000 trips this year compared to just 76,300 trips when the study was first conducted.

Conducted from June until September, the agency surveyed 167,000 households or 600,000 persons in the cities of Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (Jabotabek), which forms the Greater Jakarta area.

The survey respondents made up 3 percent of a total of 5.56 million households in Greater Jakarta or 21.57 million inhabitants.

Team leader of the study, Tomokazu Wachi, told The Jakarta Post that the objective of the study was to develop an integrated transportation master plan for Greater Jakarta area.

"We are currently analyzing the data collected during the survey. We expect to have the master plan by next February and a detailed one next June," he said on the sidelines of the discussion.

"The master plan should integrate not only various modes of transportation but also the transportation policy of a number of local administrations," he added while admitting that the problem would lie in inconsistency in implementing their own policy.

Wachi said that his team would then consider several alternatives in transportation systems and infrastructures.

"Currently we only have the basic concepts which need to be refined after evaluating data acquired from the survey."

The survey also shows that only 13.3 percent of the respondents use private cars while the greater part of the population, or 56.3 percent use public buses and another 28.3 percent uses motorcycles.

"The survey shows that the central government and local administrations have to give more attention to the condition of public transportation," said urban planner Marco Kusumawijaya.

"It is very clear from the survey that the lower the income, the more dependent the residents are on public transportation."

Meanwhile, Heru Sutomo of the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University told the Post that bus companies in Jakarta should adopt a new system to give better services to residents.

"We have proposed this system to the city administration where all stake holders will have to share the burden.

"Currently, public transportation operators carry all the burden and it is not a healthy condition."

In the proposed system, bus companies will not rely on bus fares collected from passengers but rather on a contract signed with the city administration to serve a certain route.

"The bus companies are allowed to receive money from passengers but any shortage will be subsidized. The contract will be based on total mileage," said Heru.

Heru is the director of UGM's Transportation and Logistics Studies Center (Pustral) which was commissioned by the city administration to find a better system for public bus services.

The study then proposed the controversial busway system.

"Actually we did not focus on the busway system but the administration said a new system would lose momentum without introducing a new transportation mode," said Heru.

"The proposed new system actually can be implemented with existing bus companies," he added.