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Jakartans spend 400 hours a year in traffic, says survey
Residents of the countryâs capital, Jakarta, spend 400 hours a year on average commuting to and from work, a survey has revealed
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Residents of the country's capital, Jakarta, spend 400 hours a year on average commuting to and from work, a survey has revealed.
The research, commissioned by the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), says the finding indicates that for each trip, each Jakartan spends two hours in traffic on average.
ITDP Indonesia director Yoga Adiwinarto said residents of the capital had not found viable solutions to cut their commuting hours because public transportation facilities were also affected by similar problems.
'To increase the quality of life and improve the productivity of the city, the ideal commuting period should last only 15 minutes. Wasting two hours on the road, even with public transport, is inefficient,' said Yoga as quoted by kompas.com in Jakarta on Monday.
He further explained that to achieve efficient people mobility, more needed to be done than just improving public transport, including providing more housing facilities or residential places in the center of the city. Providing affordable low-cost apartments in central areas of the city must be the focus of the Jakarta administration's efforts to reduce the traffic.
Among the areas deemed crucial to the development of low-cost apartments and worker-boarding houses are Kebon Kacang, Kampung Bali, Tanah Abang, Setiabudi and Karet areas, which are all in Central Jakarta.
Yoga said new apartments should be multi-purpose buildings that provided office and shopping facilities, as well as being more pedestrian friendly.
'The quality of life of people living outside the city's central areas may decrease, along with their long-commuting periods, which means they will spend less time with their families,' he said.
Jakarta's traffic conditions were recently deemed the world's worst by a survey conducted by British lubricant producer Castrol. (dyl/ebf)(++++)
