Wrong economic data causes city's traffic congestion

Wrong economic data causes city's traffic congestion

JAKARTA (JP): Faulty forecasting of economic and population growth in Greater Jakarta has resulted in worsening traffic problems, an official says.

The vice chairman of Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi Development Cooperation Board, Andjat D. Lamey, said yesterday that a transportation research conducted in Jakarta in 1972 made mistakes in predicting economic and population growth.

Andjat said the study, called "Jakarta Mass Transportation", predicted that economic growth in Jakarta, without its bufferzones Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi, was 6 percent per year at that time. "The study, therefore, recommended transportation modes which are now in use," he said.

He said the prediction was proven wrong because Jakarta had an economic boom and growth ran higher than 6 percent.

"As the result infrastructure like the road system is not adequate. This chaotic traffic and transportation system was 'created' 24 years ago," he said.

The city needs 200 flyovers and underpasses for the 200 intersection to overcome traffic jams. "But there are now only 30 flyovers and underpasses here."

"The study also failed to predict the growth of Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi as residential areas. It only anticipated population growth in Jakarta," Andjat said.

The research projected the number of people in Greater Jakarta by 2005 would be 23 million while currently, there are 26.5 million people live in the area. Jakarta alone has at least nine million people.

He said one of the solutions to this problem is maximizing the current system, because it's almost impossible to set up a new system.

"It's too expensive to set up a new system because of various factors. Expanding the roads will be very costly as the price of land is too high," he said.

The municipality could implement a one-way traffic policy on Jl. Sudirman in the morning while the opposite could be implemented on Jl. Rasuna Said, he said.

However, he warned that the policy may cause traffic jams in other areas if the municipality fails to prepare alternative roads.

Another idea is to reduce the number of stopping spots along city's streets such as bus shelters because traffic jam is also caused by the process to drop and lift passengers.

"Ideally, the distance between one bus shelter and another is 400 meters, but it is not implemented well here," he said.

He added that lack of discipline was a factor which may obstruct this policy because most public transport stop anywhere people are waiting. (yns)