Dofa Fasila – As the Indonesian capital enters the ripe old age of 484 years, its governor stated the obvious on Tuesday: Jakarta has an acute shortage of public transport.
Governor Fauzi Bowo said there were 7.34 million vehicles in the city, but public transport only accounted for just 2 percent of them. Fauzi said the number of vehicles in the capital has grown by 9.5 percent annually in the past five years.
He said that despite only accounting for 2 percent of the vehicles in the city, public transportation provided 56 percent of trips while the far more numerous private vehicles only accounted for the remaining 44 percent.
The city also had to cope with 650,000 vehicles coming every day from the surrounding areas to transport commuters.
The rapidly growing number of vehicles has led to serious congestion, Fauzi said, adding that this congestion inflicted an estimated loss of up to Rp.17.2 trillion ($2 billion) a year in terms of time wasted, fuel and health costs.
The capital has a total of 7,650 kilometers of roads covering 40.1 square kilometers, with an annual growth in new roads of only 0.01 percent, he said.
The proportion of space occupied by roads in Jakarta stands at a paltry 6.2 percent, further aggravating the problem. Major metropolises Paris, Tokyo and Singapore had ratios of 24 percent, 22 percent and 12 percent respectively, and those cities also had much better public transport systems, Fauzi said.
"Efforts have been made to overcome the congestion, including by reducing the congestion-prone spots, ridding the city of illegal parking, illegal transportation terminals and private traffic directors," Fauzi said.
He also said that efforts were being made to increase the popularity of the TransJakarta busway system by improving services, reducing travel times and shrinking the gap between buses, as well as expanding the network.
"Regarding the busway, we are continuously improving its management, and more and more people are now using the busway," he said.
Another corridor, linking Kampung Melayu to Pulo Gebang, both in East Jakarta, is scheduled to be opened before the end of the year, he said. The current busway network serves 10 corridors.
Fauzi pointed out that the city administration was also in the process of building elevated highways to link the Antasari area to Blok M in South Jakarta and Casablanca in South Jakarta to Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta, as part of the expansion of Jakarta's street network.
He also said that the mass rapid transport project – a rail service – will begin the construction of its first phase, linking Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta to Dukuh Atas in Central Jakarta, next year, and the line is expected to begin operation in 2016. A second line, linking Dukuh Atas to Kota in West Jakarta was also planned for much later.
In an effort to alleviate the burden of the inner city toll road, the administration has also banned access by heavy trucks, he said, adding that the measure appeared to have produced good results.