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View all search resultsCouncillor, urban experts urge road map to resolve Jakarta traffic
Policy inconsistencies, ad hoc measures and social factors like the perceived prestige of private vehicles are just some of the speed bumps on Jakarta's road to becoming a global city, according to a local official and urban experts.
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Motorists brave bumper-to-bumper traffic on Jl. KH Guru Amin in Pancoran, South Jakarta, on Aug. 28, 2025. (Antara/Bayu Pratama )
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akarta’s ambition to become a global city is being undermined by the absence of a comprehensive traffic plan and the persistence of policy inconsistencies, which has prompted renewed calls for a long-term solution to the city’s notorious chronic congestion.
Councillors have urged the city administration to draft a clear traffic planning road map, warning that ad hoc measures, such as the recently scrapped plan to trim sidewalks to make space for vehicles, risked eroding its development goals.
Jakarta City Council member Bun Joi Phiau cited a 2014 bylaw mandating 60 percent public transportation use by 2030 and an average traffic speed of 35 kilometers per hour.
Public transport use currently stands at 22 percent, just over a third of the target, while average traffic speed clocks in at 17 kph, a hair beneath half the target.
“The city administration needs to closely consider the sustainability of transportation development so that policies do not contradict each other,” Bun Joi told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Read also: Cars over people? Sidewalk cuts in South Jakarta draw backlash
Urban planner Yayat Supriyatna of Trisakti University echoed the call, emphasizing that Jakarta’s traffic crisis required “extreme measures” to restrict access to private vehicles. He also pointed to long-delayed plans such as installing an electronic road pricing (ERP) system, expanding low-emission zones (LEZs) and improved transit access in suburban areas.
