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Jakarta Post

Editorial: Easing the traffic

It is commendable that the Jakarta administration is going all out to ease traffic congestions on many roads across the capital as the problem has long been the cause of daily misery for millions of motorists and makes the capital among the world's most polluted cities

The Jakarta Post
Sat, January 10, 2009

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Editorial: Easing the traffic

It is commendable that the Jakarta administration is going all out to ease traffic congestions on many roads across the capital as the problem has long been the cause of daily misery for millions of motorists and makes the capital among the world's most polluted cities.

Policies to address the problem, therefore, should no longer be based on "trial and error", but must be well-planned and thoroughly prepared so as to ensure their effectiveness in easing congestion.

We question whether the city administration's plan to introduce a new office-hours scheme to stagger rush-hour congestion was based on a careful study or is only another "trial and error" policy such as those that have been frequently implemented in the past.

The new policy will divide the city into three zones, each with its own recommended starting hours: 7:30 a.m. for offices in Central and North Jakarta, 8 a.m. for offices in West and East Jakarta, and 9 a.m. for those in South Jakarta.

The administration expects that the combination of the new school-hour and office-hour policies will be able to reduce traffic congestion by up to 26 percent.

What we have see from the results of the new school hours in their first week of implementation has not bowled us over with delight.

We believe that all effort to ease congestion should be aimed at reducing urban commuters' dependency on private vehicles, which far outnumber the capacity of Jakarta's roads.

Police data shows there are more than six million vehicles (cars and motorcycles) on Jakarta's roads everyday. The number of vehicles in the city is forecast to grow 11 percent every year.

Therefore, without serious efforts to curb the people's dependency on private vehicles, congestion will increase.

The city administration has taken measures to reduce traffic congestion. The inner city turnpikes were constructed in the early 1980s, followed by the expansion of flyovers and underpasses, all aimed at giving motorists more space.

The city has also introduced the "three-in-one" policy that requires each car entering certain main thoroughfares in Jakarta to have at least 3 people inside.

Unfortunately, all of those efforts have not been able to solve the chaotic traffic congestion.

The expansion of road infrastructure did not permanently solve the traffic jams, as the number of vehicles has ballooned.

The three-in-one system has also failed to discourage travelers not to travel by private vehicle, as many poor people are happy to hop in the back seat at the request of a driver of an under-populated car for a few thousand rupiah.

The city is now also considering a number of policies -- including electronic road pricing (ERP) and the police's registration-number-based restrictions -- which restrict vehicle movement in the city on certain days according to license plate numbers.

The city authorities may continue to close roads and redirect traffic as they see fit, but until they find a sustainable solution for the number of vehicles on the streets, the congestion will continue to worsen.

Therefore, we really hope that the city administration will go ahead with its effort to improve public transportation -- deploying many more buses along the busway corridors and developing other mass rapid transit systems, such as subway, monorail and conventional railways.

And in this era of information and technology, efforts to solve the traffic problems could include the promotion of a "home office" system, where office tasks are executed by workers from their homes, meaning they do not need to travel to their offices as frequently.

It seems that Jakartans cannot rely on policies made by the city administration to ease traffic congestion in the city, and that all stake holders -- NGOs and private businesses -- need to contribute as well to solving the problems.

While we are waiting for the city administration to find viable solutions, other stakeholders, particularly the business community, may also use the available technology to ease the burden on the city's roads, including by promoting the home office. Any applicable measure deserves a try, doesn't it?

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