I biked today to work after a 2 month hiatus. The rain season contributed to my laziness, but I did not have a driver for more than a month as well. I experience again the massive traffic jam Jakarta is known for first hand since I cannot hide inside an air conditioned car cabin.
It is stressful to be trapped in traffic jams everyday. For a month I had to drive my son to school 20 km one-way. It took me 30 minutes in which 2/3 of the time is consumed by traffic jam due to cars entering and leaving a school on a narrow street. Driving back to work can take 1 hour due to a huge rush hour volume entering tool highway and a lane reduction. I spent 2 hours every morning and 1.5 hours every afternoon for this activity.
A 4 hour commute time for a worker in Jakarta is apparently not unusual. Some people in my office spend 5 hours everyday for commuting. The total cost due to this wasted time is staggering. A conservative estimate of 1 million commuter everyday will put the cost at about Rp 60 billion everyday. That's "Rp 60 milyar setiap hari" in Indonesian. Every year it will cost Rp 18 trillion, which is 1.5% of the national budget. It is simply ridiculous.
It amazes me therefore that there is no continued systematic effort by government to reduce this crippling traffic jam. I have lived in Jakarta for 10 months and notice three main reasons for the traffic jam:
1. Business and government activities are centered in Jakarta. People - including me - flock to Jakarta to find jobs. Jakarta simply cannot handle more than 10 million residents.
2. Minibuses (mikrolet, metromini, etc.), which are privately run, stop anywhere their passengers want them to. This includes picking up passengers. They idle at busy intersections to wait for passengers.
3. Lane markings are poor and not continuous when roads meet at ramps, intersections, and interchanges. These conditions are often the cause of traffic gridlocks in toll highways. Motorists do not know which lanes to pick at interchanges and have to slow down considerably.
No, I don't blame motorcyclists (pengendara sepeda motor) for the traffic jams. They are often squeezed in and out of their lanes by cars that fill up the entire width of a road. They zig zag their ways because they do not have dedicated lanes. They occupy opposing lanes for the same reason.
Jakarta has a population density of about 14,000/km2. Beijing has a density of 1200/km2, while Mexico City 6000/km2. Tokyo also has a density of 6000/km2, Singapore 7000/km2, while Tehran 10,000/km2. Two cities - Cairo and Mumbai - beat Jakarta as they respectively sit at 17,000/km2 and 21,000/km2. Does Jakarta want to be like Mumbai or Cairo?
A target density of 10,000/km2 means that the population has to go down by at least 30%. Or Jakarta has to expand by 30%. The expansion, however, cannot mean that Jakarta incorporates nearby cities like Bogor, Tangerang, and Bekasi since they have their own populations. It is quite clear to me that a population reduction of 30% is needed to make Jakarta more livable.
This could only mean that Jakarta has to give up its business and government administration headquarters to other cities in this vast archipelago.
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