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Traffic solutions just a phone call away
"Hello sir
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"Hello sir. I would like to get to Palmerah from Ragunan. Which route will get me there fastest, Gatot Subroto - Slipi or Pondok Indah - Permata Hijau?" said one text message on one of the Traffic Management Center's (TMC) computers.
That message was sent at 1:24 p.m. Eleven minutes later the operator said it would be faster to take Gatot Subroto, the Slipi route, although TMC officer-in-charge Adj. Comr. Sugeng Budiono admitted he had taken too long to respond.
"I do hope people understand. We always try to reply to text messages as fast as we can, but the fact is, we get an average of 2,000 text messages and calls about traffic issues each day, and we only have so many people to handle them," Sugeng said.
It was one of the many tasks Sugeng had to handle, which also included confirming inquiries about license plate numbers from people trying to make sure they were not buying stolen cars, listing traffic jam areas and taking traffic violation reports.
That last message he received was one of the rare ones that arrived in the afternoon, when most of the operators were out having lunch and the morning rush hour had ended about four hours ago.
But the traffic information requests occurred irrespective of lunch breaks, so Sugeng and 10 other people handled the stream of inquiries as fast as they could.
"The text messages and calls keep on coming and that's good because it means that the TMC is still popular," he said.
The TMC, which is funded and run by the Jakarta Police, is just one of the few facilities the city has created to help commuters get to their destination quickly.
Established in 2005, the center aims to improve public services and information about traffic. It has 48 operators in total, who are divided into three groups, each group comprising of 18 operators and one police officer handling one day shift.
The public can also send questions and complaints to the TMC, which is open 24 hours a day, by text messaging 1717, calling 122, faxing 021-5276005, logging onto the Internet at www.lantas.metro.polri.go.id, or tuning into the Suara Metro police radio on 91.1 FM.
Another outlet is Elshinta radio (90.0 FM), a radio news station that frequently broadcasts traffic conditions. It regularly checks with the TMC to see whether public reports are factual, and also receives live reports from listeners.
"We would actually get thousands of calls if we didn't filter them, so we choose one caller to represent a particular area and broadcast their report with the TMC officer in charge," said Tito Sutrisno, a listener service operator at Elshinta.
Amid the traffic chaos that is Jakarta's streets, both the TMC and Elshinta radio can be a valuable asset for the city's 10 million commuters. But are enough people using them?
According to data from the TMC, the center has been receiving fewer calls in the past couple of years.
The number of inquiries the office has received decreased from 706,234 inquiries in 2007, to 632, 021 inquiries in 2008.
As of May 21 this year, the office has received 225,047 inquiries, meaning it would receive around 600,000 inquiries by the end of the year if the rate of inquiries does not increase.
The factors that may have contributed to this decline remain unclear, though from observations by The Jakarta Post, people remain uninformed about what the TMC can do for them, or they simply prefer their own experience to the TMC's.
Joko Triwibowo, a production house crew member, said the last time he used the TMC's service was about four years ago, when he checked the license plates of a friend's car.
"I haven't called or texted them again since I already know which way will be jammed at what hour, so I don't feel like I need to call anyone about it," he said.
Andi, a sales person, said he would also rather refer to his own experience than the TMC, although he regularly listened to Elshinta radio to check the changing face of Jakarta's traffic.
"Besides, those traffic notices can be unreliable. For example, while I was on the Cikampek toll road, there was news on the radio that the road to Grogol from Semanggi was jammed. I decided to take the Semanggi route anyway and it turned out to be smooth," he said.
