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ollowing the successful transportation of athletes and officials during the recently concluded Asian Games, transportation authorities across Greater Jakarta are aiming build on this momentum to further address traffic congestion.

The authorities are looking for ways to encourage daily commuters to leave their private vehicles at home and shift to public transportation, particularly with the commercial operation of Jakarta’s light rapid transit (LRT) and MRT to commence next year.

Transportation Ministry Land Transportation Director General Budi Setyadi acknowledged that the country lacked the will needed to reduce the use of private cars, which not only created traffic woes but also led to worsening air pollution.

“We could reach a point where we face severe economic and social problems. Conflicts caused by traffic could occur,” he said during a discussion on traffic management in Jakarta on Wednesday. He cited an example from Surakarta, Central Java, of a motorcyclist who was beaten to death by a motorist for not making way.

A concerted effort to limit the use of private cars was made in the lead up to the Games, with the Greater Jakarta Transportation Body (BPTJ) enforcing the odd-even traffic policy at several toll gates in the city’s peripheral areas, namely Bekasi and Bogor in West Java and Tangerang in Banten.

The regulation stipulates that cars with licence plate numbers that end in odd numbers are only allowed to pass the gates on odd-numbered dates and vice versa during the morning rush hours. The policy was then expanded to several main thoroughfares in Jakarta to ensure the smooth mobility of contingents of the international multisport event.

The affected areas have enjoyed decreased congestion, less accidents and improved air quality thanks to the policy. However, the Jakarta Police revealed that non-affected areas have seen an increase in the number of cars by up to 6 percent, which gave a clear sign that many motorists still prefer to use their private vehicles.

“The debate has been about what should come first, creating demand or providing public transportation? We’ve gone for both. We enforce the regulation to create a market,” BPTJ head Bambang Prihartono said.

He claimed that passengers of Transjakarta bus services rose by 40 percent after the series of traffic regulations were enforced, but admitted that it was not sufficient to drastically reduce congestion in the city, which is home to 4.4 million cars and 13 million motorcycles.

Since the odd-even policy was enforced, Greater Jakarta’s commuter trains have also recorded a 2 percent increase in passengers. Throughout August, when the policy was enforced, the trains carried 924,000 passengers, a slight increase from 906,111 in the previous month.

“I have talked with the Bekasi and the South Tangerang administrations to encourage them to provide bus services to carry commuters. They said that they already had Trans Patriot and Trans Anggrek bus services in their respective areas,” Bambang said.

However, the services have yet to attract commuters, with the Trans Aggrek bus service in South Tangerang mostly catering to students going on study tours and transporting people to private events.

Similarly, since being launched last year, the Trans Anggrek service in Bekasi has yet to become fully operational, with several administrative matters reportedly hampering its operation.

South Tangerang, home to 1.5 million people and 631,874 private cars, has played a large part in contributing to congestion in the city. Half of its population commuted to Jakarta everyday, South Tangerang Mayor Airin Rachmi Diani has said previously.

Similarly, there are 450,000 cars in Bekasi, home to 2.5 million people.