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Jakarta claims success in reducing congestion, but pandemic plays bigger role
The COVID-19 pandemic has helped put Jakarta outside the top ten list of the most congested cities around the globe.
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Jl. Sudirman in Central Jakarta looks deserted on March 22, 2020. The thoroughfare, which is usually jammed with heavy traffic, went quiet after authorities urged firms to order their employees to work from home to prevent the spread of the COVID-19. (JP/Riand Alfiandy)
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or the first time in years, Jakarta is not on the list of the most congested cities around the globe as a recent report mentions that the city shows improvements in untangling the traffic jams.
The 2020 TomTom Traffic Index, an annual report published by Dutch location technology company TomTom, ranks the Indonesian capital the 37th-most-congested city in the world. The city ranked 10th in the 2019 report.
The index shows that the average congestion level in Jakarta was 36 percent in 2020, down from 53 percent in the previous year.
Jakarta Transportation Agency head Syafrin Liputo was quick to present the result as an achievement of the city administration’s efforts to tackle congestion. He claimed that the provincial administration had taken several measures to solve the traffic problem, including the integration of public transportation systems through the JakLingko program.
But TomTom’s data suggest that COVID-19 restrictions played a bigger role in reducing traffic in the capital.
According to TomTom, the congestion level dropped significantly around mid-March, shortly after health authorities confirmed the first COVID-19 cases in Jakarta. At that time, the city administration and authorities had started to encourage people to work and study from home in order to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission in the capital.
