Simple traffic solution
I refer to June 1, 1995, article about curbing vehicles in Jakarta. In the 1970s, Sao Paulo experienced a construction boom like Jakarta is experiencing now. If you are in Jakarta high rise building, just look outside the window and see the amount of cranes on the landscape. Sao Paulo's city administration went to the standard imported solution: throw money at the problem.
However, no amount of new overpasses, bridges, tunnels, avenues, subway systems or regulations prevented the clogging of S. Paulo's traffic. Twenty-five years later they are still struggling with chaotic traffic.
People will leave their cars at home only if efficient public transport is available. An efficient public transport system it is not the Flash Gordon-type solution such as suspended rail or ultra modern subway. It can be a simple solution and it has been done successfully in Brazil itself.
In Curitiba -- a city of 1.6 million inhabitants 400 kilometers south of S. Paulo -- the local government opted for a low-cost decentralized solution. It designed a master plan, where articulated buses run non-stop from terminals in the outskirts of the city to downtown via special bus lanes. Feeder routes using standard buses spread from terminals outside the city.
Along the bus lanes circulate normal buses making the stop and go journey for passengers dropping in between. There are no conductors on the buses. Passengers pay their fare before boarding the buses to increase passenger throughput. Fares are normally paid with tokens which can be purchased at pharmacies, news stands, banks, etc. A specially designed shelter makes the bus stops comfortable. Owing to the Brazilian trademark lack of discipline, curbs between the bus and the car lanes prevent cars from invading the lane. (A 650 HP 100-passenger articulated bus traveling at high speed also helps).
Inter-district buses drive in between places where terminals don't exist to avoid changing buses during a long journey. Now 28 percent of the passenger traffic is of people who previously commuted by car. A tri-articulated bus for 270 passengers is now being tested. The government only oversees the system, it is operated by private companies.
Jakarta authorities don't need to implement the full blown system to see how and if it will work. Give it a trial like New York City did. Choose a special route, put a terminal tube with a conductor in it, get an articulated bus and have a go at it. The complete system -- articulated buses and shelter -- can be manufactured here in Indonesia. The Angkutan Kota's drivers would not lose their livelihood. They could be the feeders to the terminals and be banned from downtown.
Throwing brains at a problem can beat throwing money at one.
OSVALDO COELHO
Bandung, West Java