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• Sat, July 29, 2023

Work It Right is a weekly column that provides practical and insightful advice on the complexities of urban transportation.

Last June, The Federal Highway Administration of New York City finally approved a congestion pricing plan. This plan will charge New Yorkers for driving into Midtown and Lower Manhattan and will be implemented in the spring of 2024. What is congestion pricing? And why is it one of the keys to cutting city traffic and pollution?

Congestion pricing, or in Jakarta, Electronic Road Pricing (ERP), is an effort to manage the excessive use of private motorized vehicles; cars and, in Indonesia's case, motorcycles. But why should we limit the usage of these modes? Most Jakartans need to realize that there are external costs of excessive use of these modes, and these costs are sometimes invisible and have a long-term impact on the city and those who live there.

Worsening air quality comes with health risks, causing at least 50 percent of diseases in Indonesia (Haryanto, 2018). The absence of control over the use of private motorized vehicles also affects road safety, with 30 percent of traffic accident victims being pedestrians (Transportation Ministry, 2013). In 2022 the number of accidents in Indonesia reached 131,500 cases, resulting in 26,100 fatalities (Transportation Ministry, 2023).

In Jakarta, 90 percent of sidewalks are occupied by illegal parking (Koalisi Pejalan Kaki, 2021) and loss of productive space potential, where one parking space for private motorized vehicles has a valuation of Rp 1 million (US$66.62)/month compared with kiosks in Tanah Abang with a valuation of Rp 9 million/month (ITDP, 2022).

So, what can we do about it? Congestion pricing is one effort the city can make in order to limit motorized vehicle usage. This is part of "push" policies in a transportation demand management (TDM) strategy. The congestion pricing adds the external cost of driving to the expense of transportation, so people will think twice or even decide not to drive and use public transportation or cycling instead.

Besides congestion pricing, parking fee management is also a push measure in the TDM strategy, where the city increases parking rates for private motorized vehicles, especially on the side of the road, or limits the provision of parking spaces. This policy is again to suppress the use of private motorized vehicles and "push" people to shift to public transportation and cycling.

"But public transportation is not reliable enough for me!" One of the goals of congestion pricing and parking management, other than reducing congestion and pollution, is the charge paid by car and motorcycle users can be reinvested back into public transportation, sidewalks and bike lane improvements. In short, to increase the quality of public transportation, the city needs to implement a TDM strategy.

Is it possible and feasible for Jakarta to manage the use of private motor vehicles?

Singapore, Stockholm, Oslo and London have successfully implemented a congestion pricing plan. "Oh, they are rich cities", well congestion pricing policy is mostly about political will. In the cities mentioned above, resistance from the public happened, mainly from car and motorcycle users. In Stockholm, only 21 percent of the public accepted the policy before its implementation, and in London, there was 39 percent acceptance. After the implementation, public acceptance increased to 67 and 54 percent, respectively.

As mentioned, another “push” policy that can be implemented to control the use of cars and motorcycles is parking management, either by managing the fee or the supply of parking spaces. Among other big cities in Asia, such as Delhi, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Manila, parking fees in Jakarta are still relatively low compared to its citizens' average income.

The difference in parking fees is even more significant in the case of on-street parking (roadside parking), where many still apply flat rates per parking. This shows that drivers in Indonesia are still incentivized to drive, given the affordability of parking here. On-street parking also causes illegal parking because it is difficult to supervise, and we often see how on-street parking creates conflict and causes congestion. Parking management policy "forces" drivers to park inside the building and simultaneously reduces the road volume.

The issue of public acceptance in the TDM strategy concerns the perception of fairness, equity and social justice. What the success of these cities in implementing congestion pricing has in common is clear information about what benefits EVERY person living in them gets from the policies. But apart from perceptions and mathematical formulas for calculating a fair amount to set in congestion pricing or parking management, political will is much more robust in determining whether these policies will work. It is definitely not a "popular" policy even though the impact will be extensive and long-term, and it takes great courage to implement it, especially in a car/motorcycle-oriented city like Jakarta.

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The author is a senior communications and partnership manager at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP).