New cars on streets soar
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The often crippling traffic jams and a prolonged economic crisis have not stopped Jakartans from buying new cars.
The Jakarta administration reported on Tuesday the number of new cars on the city's streets has soared over the past four years.
"Our records show that the number of people asking for new vehicle registration documents (STNK) in 2001 doubled from an average of 138 people per day in 2001 to 269 people in 2004," Governor Sutiyoso said on Tuesday while introducing the 15 members of the new Jakarta Transportation Council.
Sutiyoso said the number of new cars being registered grew by 7 percent annually from 1998 to 2004.
"The growth (in the number of new cars) is much higher than the growth of the city's roads, which is less than 1 percent a year," he said.
The governor said the growth of new car purchases was being fueled by a poor public transportation system, which encouraged people to use private vehicles rather than undergo the nuisance of inconvenience of buses or trains.
Quoting an official report, Sutiyoso said there were 4.4 million private cars and motorcycles on Jakarta's roads, or 98 percent of all vehicles operating in the city. In comparison, there are only 82,000 public transportation vehicles.
However, the public transportation vehicles account for 50.3 percent of trips in the city, while private vehicles account for 49.7 percent of trips.
"No wonder our public transportation vehicles are always crowded, unsafe and in poor condition," he said.
Sutiyoso warned the city would suffer total gridlock in five to 10 years unless the administration and residents made significant changes to the transportation system.
"There is a joke that by 2014, Jakarta residents will not be able to drive their cars out of the driveway because the traffic jams will have reached their neighborhoods," he said.
From 1978 to 2002, the administration has carried out studies on urban transportation in an effort to solve chronic traffic jams in the capital.
"Unfortunately, those studies have not been followed up with concrete action so the traffic woes remain untouched. That's why we took the initiative to draw up a plan for a macro transportation system, with the help of transportation experts," he said.
The comprehensive system will integrate a subway, monorail, busway and river transportation.
The administration and central government expect to begin developing the US$767 million (Rp 7.1 trillion) subway system next year. A $650 million monorail project, wholly financed by private companies, is under construction and is slated to be completed next year. River transportation is still far in the future.