Will 2004 usher in new traffic woes?

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Traffic in Jakarta has been a chronic problem for years. The capital's 7,500 kilometers of roads cannot accommodate its approximately 4.7 million vehicles -- of which only 315,000 are public transportation vehicles.

To overcome the problem, the city administration has proposed the implementation of a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), or busway system, and an elevated monorail to encourage its citizens to switch from private vehicles to public transportation.

The poor service from public transportation companies, however, might deter commuters from their use.

For example, the most expensive city buses -- supposedly air- conditioned and limited in passenger capacity -- turned out to be the same as regular intercity buses, with passengers forced to stand during peak hours amid the never-ending congestion. The tickets, however, still cost Rp 3,500 (41 U.S. cents), whereas regular buses charge Rp 1,200.

A similar scene can be seen on commuter trains -- diesel or electric -- but with passengers preferring to sit atop the cars because of lack of seating inside. Several people have been killed by electrocution, while others have died from falling off the roof.

The central government's policy allowing modified, large vehicles to enter the market has worsened traffic in Jakarta.

Luxurious and expensive cars can be seen driving along the city's major thoroughfares daily, while residents on the outskirts of Jakarta enjoy cruising in affordable motorcycles.

Can the busway or monorail system replace private vehicles?

The question was raised when the city started constructing shelters and lane dividers for the busway, which will take up one lane of the already jammed roads from Blok M, South Jakarta, to Kota, West Jakarta.

Even before the officiation of the busway, scheduled for Jan. 15, Jakartans are suffering from the heightened congestion caused by the new structure.

To alleviate some of the congestion, private vehicles have been advised to take four alternative roads paralleling the busway lane. The administration and police are clearing these roads from street vendors and illegally parked cars.

With only 56 buses available -- currently being assembled in Magelang, Central Java -- to transport around 60,000 passengers, many doubt that the busway, which has a capacity of only 20,000, will solve traffic problems without creating more.

However, the city is guaranteeing feeder services to transport people from residential areas to the Blok M or Kota bus terminal and along the corridor.

With a fee of Rp 2,500 per passenger, residents are wondering how much additional costs the feeder services would entail.

Ticket prices for feeders services will be Rp 2,900 for Zone A, inside Jakarta, and Rp 3,800 for Zone B, outside Jakarta.

The administration has also decided to extend and expand the three-in-one traffic policy, which rules that a car must have at least three passengers when traveling in a particular area during certain hours.

The policy -- currently applied to vehicles entering Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin during the morning rush hour from 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. -- will be expanded to cover the 12.9-kilometer busway route. The city will also extend the policy to the evening rush hour, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The three-in-one policy is considered a failure, as many motorists pick up joki -- people who offer services to pose as passengers for a minimal fee -- in order to enter the restricted areas.

Before the busway materialized, Governor Sutiyoso had already signed a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia's M Trans Holding for the construction of a 27-kilometer, dual-line elevated monorail.

The monorail is to connect Bekasi to the east and Tangerang to the west of the capital.

M Trans Holding and PT Indonesian Transit Central have invested some US$540 billion in the project.

One of the lines is a 14.8-kilometer circular line, called the Green line, which is to serve the capital's golden triangle area of Kuningan, Sudirman and Senayan.

The Green line will serve 16 stations: Senayan Sports complex, Plaza Senayan, the Jakarta Convention Center, Taman Ria Senayan, the House of Representatives, Pejompongan, Karet, Sudirman, Setiabudi, Kuningan, Taman Rasuna, Casablanca, Gran Melia, Satria Mandala Museum, Jakarta Police Headquarters and the Jakarta Stock Exchange.

The other line, the 12.2-kilometer Blue line, is to connect Kampung Melayu to the east and Roxy to the west.

This line will serve 13 stations: Kampung Melayu bus terminal, Tebet, Saharjo, Menteng Dalam, Casablanca, Ambassador, Dharmala Sakti, Menara Batavia, Karet, Kebon Kacang, Tanah Abang, Cideng and Roxy.

In Kampung Melayu, an interchange will connect the monorail with the bus terminal. Monorail trains there will enjoy feeder services from large, medium and small buses for intercity connections.

In Tebet, the monorail will be integrated with a conventional railway station that serve Bogor-Kota trains.

At the Sudirman or Duku Atas station, an interchange will link the monorail with busway and commuter train passengers from Serpong and Bekasi.

Most of the other monorail stations will be in downtown Jakarta.

However, the ambitious plan has been slammed by analysts and experts because a monorail had never been mentioned in the city transportation development plan. It was not even included in the Jakarta macro-transportation draft plan, which is the main reference for the development of the transportation system.

The Jakarta macro-transportation plan has been designed to develop transportation until 2020. Under the plan, the busway will form the backbone of public transportation by 2007, before the city develops other mass rapid transit systems like subways and other rail-based transportation.

By the end of 2007, Jakarta plans to have at least seven busway corridors and seven more will have been completed by the end of 2010.

The development of railways, including the expansion of its existing network, is scheduled to kick off in 2007 and is expected to finish in 2020.

The macro-transportation plan also sees rivers as an alternative. Of the 13 rivers flowing through the capital, the West Flood Canal and the East Flood Canal currently being constructed are key to developing a 43.8km water transportation system.

All these plans, however should not raise ivory towers for the administration -- they must listen to the people who use public transportation and roads every single day, before deciding upon the most appropriate plan.

The launch of the busway on Jan. 15 will be the real test for the administration in developing its macro-transportation system. Should it fail, the administration must think of a wiser way to overcome traffic woes in Jakarta.

I-box Basic facts on Jakarta transportation: * 700,000 people from the 12.6 million Greater Jakarta population travel to Jakarta every day * Number of vehicles : 4.97 million * Number of private cars: 1.5 million * Number of motorcycles: 2.79 million * Number of public vehicles: 315,000 * 82 percent of private cars take only two passengers * A single bus has a maximum capacity of 60 passengers * A bus passenger uses 0.75 square meters of road space * A private car passenger takes up 3.3 sqm of road space * Private vehicles occupy 88 percent of road space * Public vehicles occupy 12 percent of road space * Traffic jams occur along 81.3 percent of feeder roads * Health cost caused only by particulate molecule (PM10) pollutants reached Rp 5.79 trillion in 1999

From various sources