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)