Jakarta, indonesia - Millions of commuters will have to struggle through the world's most congested traffic for almost another decade, authorities in the Indonesian capital believe, and they may have to wait even longer if new railway projects costing the equivalent of R48 billion don't work out as planned.
The city’s gridlocked streets are the biggest headache for Jakarta’s 10 million residents and a major hindrance to economic growth, with workers stranded for hours in buses, cars and motorcycles each day.
Jakarta ranked top among 78 cities for traffic stops and starts in a recent Castrol study, with the average driver having to stop 33 240 times a year - more than twice as many as in New York.
New York drivers also travel twice as fast as those in Jakarta, whose average speed is just 8.3km/h.
Making matters worse, at least a thousand new cars and motorcycles are added to Jakarta's roads each day.
Jakarta commuter Budi Edi Praitno said: “Congestion in Jakarta is already at an alarming level. In the not-too-distant future, the city will be paralysed by traffic.”
And that was after he traded his motorcycle for a bicycle to trim a few minutes from his 30km commute, which still takes more than an hour.
TRAFFIC SCOURGE
There are hopes that a new mass rapid transit system, under construction and slated to open in 2018, will provide relief.
However, system director Dono Boestami said its impact would be limited initially. Instead, it will take a host initiatives, including the government's new plan to build a light rail system, to bring about any real change.
Boestami said if everything went according to plan, traffic could be reduced by 30 percent, but not until 2024 at the earliest, and a second MRT line and inner city toll roads would also be needed.
Work on the MRT began in 2013 after decades of delays, and the Indonesian and Jakarta city governments say they are urgently seeking more solutions to the traffic scourge.
Transport minister Ignasius Jonan told reporters after recent meeting with president Joko Widodo: “Based on instructions from the president, all plans to develop public transportation in greater Jakarta must be conducted this year and this cannot be delayed.”
For commuters, the government's plan to overhaul public transportation is long overdue.
Thomas Madya Bestari spends more than two hours a day getting to and from his marketing job at Samsung on a motorbike.
“If the government can provide a convenient, safe and good public transportation system,” he said, “I will use it for sure because commuting with a two-wheel vehicle is the last alternative.”
Reuters