Jakarta Traffic Jam

(Picture taken from :www.liputan6.com)

Jakarta’s traffic has always been a big problem for the government. If you mention about the traffic in Jakarta then the image is a big and complex traffic jam all around the street. Especially in around 5.00 pm to 20.00 pm (the ending of office hours).

United Nation Environment Program (UNEP) has place Jakarta as the third most pollutant city in the world after Mexico City and Bangkok. The UNEP also said that 67 percent of the pollution comes form automobile emissions. And according to Kojima and Lovei in 2001 traffic is the biggest donator to particle emissions which contribute to the increasing of 80-90 percent lead or PB. And as we all know that PB is a very dangerous substance for human health.

Data from transportation department in Jakarta Shows that there is an increase on the amount of vehicle in Jakarta about 11 percent per years. The amounts of total vehicle in Jakarta now are about 4.9 million, 2.8 million is two wheals vehicles and 2.2 million is four wheal vehicles. According to a research from CIRUS in 1999 DKI Jakarta inhabitants who have daily activity traffic movement are 15.7 million people per year. And from that amount only 2.9 million people who use bus public transportation.

Another thing that make Jakarta traffic jam so big and complex is the unequal increase rate of street width and the increasing of vehicle significantly on the private vehicle. Data from transportation department said that the capacity of Jakarta to add the length and width of the street is less than 1 percent per years, meanwhile the increase of automobile is about 10 percent per years. So of course if we look through the data the street in Jakarta can not accommodate the increase of the vehicle per years.

If we observe the traffic jam in Jakarta we can see the rhythmic of the traffic jam. The most heavy traffic jam is always in the ending time of office hour especially in the primer street point to outer city area (BOTABEK à Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi and Depok). Such as in the Mampang-Buncit street (vehicle form south of Jakarta, Jakarta, Cinere, and Depok). A research in 2002 said that not less than 139.700 traffic take place in south of Jakarta with 716.000 total movements in traffic average speed only about 34.5 km/hours. Can you imagine how bad the traffic is??

Actually the government of DKI Jakarta has also think about the traffic jam problem and they come out with PRODASIH (clean air program). One of the example is “three in one” which means there should be three people or more in one car, but in the reality lots of the car owner use jockey to avoid the regulation. So it comes back to the people of Jakarta consciousness to make the traffic in Jakarta more enjoyable. If they can not do this then may be in the next year there will be all traffic jam in the street of Jakarta that make the people harder to go through even to go out of their home. I realize that now the traffic jam seems to be more crowded and long. Even in the place where usually never been any traffic jam now there is a jam and it is quite long and heavy.

Maybe the government can be stricter about the regulation that they have already made. And I suggest to the government if the want to build street infrastructure such as the busway for Trans Jakarta they should make a better planning in it. Because what I see now is that they make it all in one time which make all the street suffering worse in traffic jam because all the street are under construction. Can’t you make it just one by one Mr.Goverment? because if you make it one by one it will be easier for others to find alternative way in order to avoid the street construction.