Newly appointed Jakarta Police traffic director Sr. Comr. Latif Usman has proposed a plan that would require some offices to shift their employees' work schedules so that they would not have to commute during peak hours.

"Based on our research, the main cause of Jakarta's severe rush-hour congestion is due to office workers leaving at the same time," Latif said, as quoted on the National Police website on Friday.

"If we shift their working schedules so that some workers start their morning session after peak commuting times, maybe at 10 or 11 a.m., or even change their schedule to the afternoon or night, we would be able to greatly reduce traffic during both the morning and evening rush hours," he added.

Latif claimed the plan would complement the odd-even license plate policy in place on 25 major thoroughfares in Jakarta.

Introduced in 2016, the odd-even policy bars vehicles from certain roads on certain days based on the terminal digit of their license plates and the day of the month. If both are odd, then the vehicle may use the road, and if both are even, the vehicle may use the road.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria said the city administration would consider Latif's suggestion and would discuss the plan with the Jakarta Transportation Agency, the central government and business owners, among other stakeholders.

"It's a complicated policy. We cannot decide it on our own. We respect any suggestions on how to relieve the city's traffic congestion. We'll consider them, discuss them," Riza said, as reported by Kompas.

Riza added that the Jakarta administration had been taking a “comprehensive approach” to tackling Jakarta's traffic woes, including by improving and expanding the public transportation system, building cycling lanes and revamping pedestrian infrastructure. The city is also planning to integrate payments for various modes of public transportation through the city-owned JakLingko cards.

Persistent woes

Jakarta has long struggled with severe traffic congestion, with more than 20 million motorized vehicles traveling its roads and millions more commuting from its satellite cities every day.

In 2017, Jakarta ranked as the fourth most congested city in the world, according to Dutch location technology company TomTom. Its ranking has improved since, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, as schools were closed and people were forced to work from home to curb the spread of the virus.

A 2021 TomTom report ranked Jakarta as the 46^th most congested city in the world. The city was ranked 37^th in 2020 and 10^th in 2019.

But as mobility slowly returns to pre-pandemic levels in response to plummeting COVID-19 cases and easing restrictions, major congestion has returned to the capital.

According to data from the Jakarta Police, average travel times during the morning commute have been 54 percent longer than during the baseline, non-congested times.

The figure was 17 percentage points higher than last year's TomTom data, which recorded a 37 percent lengthening of travel times during peak hours.

Skepticism

Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI) secretary general Harya S. Dillon felt the working hour shift was unlikely to be better than other proposed methods of limiting congestion.

"Although I don't really mind if the Jakarta administration imposes the policy, realistically speaking, it will not be more effective than implementing electronic road pricing or raising parking fees in the inner city," Harya told The Jakarta Post.

Jakarta authorities previously changed school start times from 7 a.m to 6.30 a.m. in a bid to ease morning rush hour traffic. While the policy is still in effect, it has had little impact on congestion levels.

Since 2006, the city administration has been seeking to impose stronger deterrents for the use of private vehicles through electronic road pricing, but progress on the project has stalled, reportedly because of paperwork and financing issues. It had also been planning to significantly increase both on-street and off-street parking fees, but no changes have yet been made.

Transportation expert Deddy Herlambang said shifting office hours would not be particularly effective as it would not reduce the overall use of private vehicles on Jakarta’s roads.

"The policy will also be counter to the Jakarta administration’s efforts to deter the use of private vehicles and boost public transportation ridership," he said.

Deddy said a much better solution the traffic issue in the capital would be to strengthen its public transportation system. He noted that only 20 percent of Jakartans currently used public transportation to commute, while the remaining 80 percent still used private vehicles.