Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Congestion seems to be a classic problem in big cities like Jakarta. It is feared that this problem will get worse as people’s ability to buy vehicles increases, while public transportation support is inadequate.
Unika Soegijapranata Civil Engineering Study Program academic and Deputy Chair of Regional Empowerment and Development of the Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI) Center, Djoko Setijowarno, revealed that this can be seen from the dominance of private vehicles which far exceeds public transportation.
“Data collected by GIZ (May 2023), the capital share of public transportation in Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo is already above 50%. Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok are around 20% – 50%. Meanwhile, cities in Indonesia, such as Jakarta, Bandung “, Surabaya, Medan is less than 20 percent. Meanwhile in the last 5 years the growth rate of private vehicles in Indonesia has averaged 8% per year,” said Djoko, Monday (30/10/23).
“In the ranking of congestion of cities in Indonesia, Jakarta is ranked 10th. First place is Bangalore (India, second place is Manila (Philippines), 11th place is Bangkok (Thailand), 32nd place is Tokyo (Japan), 46th place is Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), ranking 96 Singapore, ranking 108 Hong Kong,” he continued.
In recent years, he said, the motorized vehicle population has continued to increase rapidly. Economic growth, the development of the middle class and changes in lifestyle have encouraged many people to own private vehicles.
On the other hand, there are limited land and high costs as well as limited physical space which is too narrow to accommodate the rapidly increasing number of vehicles, which has caused frequent traffic jams. Not to mention, motorized vehicles are the main source of air pollution in urban areas. High air pollution causes respiratory problems, eye irritation and chronic respiratory diseases. Apart from that, air pollution also contributes to global climate change.
“Traffic congestion has had significant negative impacts, including increased travel time, increased driver stress levels, wasted fuel and decreased transportation efficiency,” said Djoko.
“By prioritizing and improving an efficient public transport system, as well as providing incentives or operational subsidies and the necessary infrastructure, the government (including regional governments) and society can work together to reduce the negative impacts of increasing the number of motorized vehicles, traffic jams and pollution in the environment urban areas,” he said.
He said that the guaranteed availability of mass transportation is in article 158 of Law Number 22 of 2009 concerning Road Traffic and Transportation, which states the availability of road-based mass transportation to meet the need for transportation of people using public motorized vehicles in urban areas.
“The mass transportation in question must be supported by buses that have mass transportation capacity, have special lanes (busways), other public transportation routes do not coincide with mass transportation routes and there are feeder transportation that approach residential areas,” concluded Djoko.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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