Little hope in sight

Little hope in sight

Traffic does reflect the culture of the people, many say.
Those visiting the capital city for the first time may be shocked
to experience the chaotic vehicle traffic situation.

There are practically no laws in effect on the roads. The
bigger the vehicle, the stronger they are and the bigger the
right of way they will demand on the roads.

Private cars must give way to speeding public buses with
jostling passengers on board. Usually, the private cars' drivers
have no courage and no will to scold the bus drivers or their
assistants.

Another surprising phenomenon that is gradually accepted as
"normal" is motorcycles emerging as new forces that are to be
reckoned with on the roads.

At night, groups of motorcycles speed and roam the roads
without lights, terrorizing other road users. In case of a crash
with a car, the motorcyclists will blame the car driver, and
local residents where the accident takes place may join the
motorcyclists.

There seems to be an odd agreement among our people today that
public bus crews, motorcyclists and pedestrians represent poor
people while those in cars represent the well-off.

We witness traffic violations everyday and almost every where
in the city. Yet, only a few violations are dealt with by the
traffic police.

Given all this, Jakartans seem to have no choice but to take
the daily pressures in their lives with little hope that someday
the administration will do something proper to provide them with
a humane traffic system.

Worse still, the city administration seems to be unaware of
the latest survey reports, which say that the traffic flow in
Jakarta has increased 10 times what it was in 1985.

The survey conducted by the Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) found that commuter trips to work made by Jakartans
had increased 9.4 times since 1985, when a similar study took
place for the first time. According to the study, there Jakarta's
commuters made 716,000 trips this year compared to just 76,300 in
1985.

Another survey earlier found that the urban toll road is now
used by 200,000 cars per day, however it was only designed to
accommodate 65,000. These figures explain why traveling from one
place to another is getting more complicated and takes longer
each day.

Some people say that traffic congestions in Jakarta has
exceeded all tolerable limits. Traffic congestion has disrupted
all aspects of life. From an economic point of view, the constant
congestion inflicts a total of Rp 2.67 billion in daily losses,
not to mention the use of more fuel by the vehicles. The fact
that people are forced to be late at work has also affected
productivity and increased stress among workers.

In terms of environmental damage, the more vehicles are
operating, the more polluted the city air will get.

During the fasting month of Ramadhan traffic congestion has
put extra pressure on family life in this city. Those who, in the
past, needed only 30 minutes to drive home from work to break the
fast with their families have had to spend more than one hour to
reach home. Most of them must miss the meal at home as they are
still on the roads.

We assume that the city administration has been ignorant of
about the chaotic and inhumane traffic.

The plan to continue the construction of the Jakarta Outer
Ring Road seems to be the city administration's best remedy for
the traffic headaches. But constructing new roads will only
encourage people to buy new cars.

The Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, which is said to be the
best mode of public transportation for Jakarta, is still being
debated, but is far from reality. Under present circumstances,
the project will be too expensive.

The key to the lingering problem is the leadership and the
government's political will.

Governor Sutiyoso seems to lack vision and has no grand
scenario to deal with the traffic problems. During his first
tenure, he had five years to demonstrate his commitment to solve
Jakarta's traffic problems. He should have offered an integrated
system to remedy the traffic chaos. He failed to use that chance.

Sutiyoso regained his gubernatorial seat last month.
Unfortunately, we see no hope that he will offer a brilliant
concept or formula to cure the traffic and ground transportation
system.

We are worried that if no prompt and proper action is taken by
the city administration, in the next five years most of Jakarta's
roads may be like parking lots with thousands of vehicles trapped
in severe traffic jams all day long.