On Kijangs and coziness

On Kijangs and coziness

People who own Toyota Kijangs could be disappointed in coming
months, that is if they own them for reasons of prestige,
because, since older Kijangs have been used as mikrolet minibuses
for years -- the City administration has allowed Kijang vans to
be used as taxis.

There is also a hint of fetidness in the air about this new
development, aside from the car maker's swiftness in luring the
City administration to agree on the use of a Kijang fleet.

The taxis will reportedly operate under the control of Express
taxi, a company partly owned by the City administration. However,
no gubernatorial decree legalizes all this -- but is based
instead on Provincial Decree No. 12/2003 on traffic and ground
transportation.

With at least four million vehicles, including more than
25,000 taxi cabs, packing the less than 7,000 kilometers of road
the capital city, it is no wonder that traffic is so atrocious
here.

The recently established TransJakarta busway system, which was
claimed as a cure-all, has not yet proven its worth. Instead, it
has increased congestion in many areas.

The Jakarta Transportation Office has yet to reveal a clear
plan for the Kijang taxis. If the issuance of new cab permits is
for the sake of tourism, it might be instructive to remind our
distinguished decision makers that the number of (foreign)
tourists has been rapidly decreasing in recent years. The
question then is, do Jakarta's residents need more taxis --
especially corpulent minivans that take up even more space on
often very narrow roads?

Congestion and traffic violations are too common, and law
enforcement is poor. Law No. 14/1992 on land transportation has
yet to be enforced properly. According to Article 61 of the law,
those found violating traffic laws are subject to a year in jail
or a maximum fine of Rp 1 million.

However, in practice the violators are only subject to "street
law enforcement" -- traffic cops who accept bribes, often in the
tens of thousands of rupiah range. Worse, the cops turn a blind
eye to motorcycles and public transportation vehicles, the
drivers of which never seem to grow bored with the life-
threatening exhilaration of barreling through all the red lights
around town.

Traffic congestion in the city costs car owners almost Rp 3
billion in vehicle operational costs every day, not to mention
the economic loss due to lost man hours.

In regard to air pollution, the decision to add a whole new
fleet of taxis is also flawed. The World Health Organization has
acknowledged that Jakarta is one of the worst (air) polluted
cities in the world. Its air is severely contaminated with
particles of sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and lead.

The Jakarta administration jolted some vehicle owners last
year when it announced plans to impose road worthiness tests on
private vehicles. This test is mentioned in Law No. 14/1992, and
says that anyone operating vehicles that are not roadworthy will
be subject to a three-month jail sentence or a Rp 3 million fine.
That sounds ideal. At least it gives the impression that law
enforcement is proper in the country.

But obligatory tests for road worthiness have actually been
applied for years on public transportation and commercial
vehicles, but not for private vehicles. However, owners of public
transportation firms have learned that such tests have become
lucrative cash cows for the less-than-virtuous officials in
charge. Most of the time, bribes are exchanged in return for a
roadworthiness sticker.

All this clearly shows that nothing has been properly done by
the administration to solve the city's traffic problems. Rather,
it has apparently missed the real problems.

The teeming city of Jakarta obviously needs an integrated
ground transportation system that spreads out from residential
areas to the business or office complexes where people work every
day.

At present, each municipality has its own policy for ojek
motorcycle taxis, bajaj three-wheeled motorized vehicles,
mikrolet 12-seat minibuses and Metro Mini buses, with no
cooperation from one to the next, let alone links to the larger
city transportation system consisting of such means as trains or
regular city buses.

Certain areas appear to have too many mikrolet operating, most
of which look for passengers by stopping anywhere they darn well
please, creating serious congestion.

How about the five mayors in the capital getting together for
tea some afternoon and discussing ways to cooperate and improve
transportation in an appropriate manner?

Experience proves that the decision makers tend to miss the
most important things in dealing with the city transportation
problem.

The TransJakarta bus system is one such policy that lacks a
sense of "traffic crisis". The TransJakarta buses in themselves
are excellent because they have their own lanes, and reach their
destinations on time.

However, the TransJakarta busway is, in fact, a stand-alone
system, not integrated to a broader inter-linked transportation
system.

Therefore, the permit for Kijang taxis could arouse suspicion
among the city's residents that there may be something a bit too
cozy involving the local car maker and the decision makers. At
the end of the day, more space-eating taxis do not seem to be an
answer to Jakarta's traffic woes.