jakarta traffic jam isn't the root cause

[pesona] jakarta traffic jam isn't the root cause

jakarta, typical metropolitan in developing country faces various acute problem. people will easily name traffic jam,
flood, pollution and other social problem as the problem. my humble opinion, they are not the problem, but the real root problem is poor leadership commitment. it has happened year and year, local or national leader come and go with their undelivered promises, while people tend to selfish as seen this is not their problem at least not their short term & urgent problem.

i'll focus on this main root problem and link to one problem, as an example.

traffic jam, an acute problem that trying to be solved partially and not integrated. national government thinks this is local role to solve the problem. while the solution shall be a synergy of both local and national government regulation.

the ultimate issue is reluctance government to increase fuel price and parking fee on downtown. both will educate people to burn fuel effectively and give government to buy or build more mass transportation. to manage social issue, spend subsidy in form of welfare and public service, rather than consumption like fuel subsidy.with high private transportation cost and low mass transportation cost, slowly but sure people will use mass transportation. government shall never be doubt on this. initially may create chaos. "begin with the end of mind", covey said.

its increasing of private vehicle number will increase the local government income from vehicle tax, while it is actually the burden of the national government due to fuel subsidy consumption increase spending at increasing oil price environment. without revolutionary paradigm change from the government regulation and people attitude toward eco friendly, our energy consumption per capita will remain high. the action is now, even yesterday, other wise the indirect cost to the community will be very high.

trans jakarta, is good partial solution of the chronic traffic jam issue, but Jakarta needs more than this. eventhough we only copy paste from other city for bus way, but it's fail in process and progress. progress the 7 year old project is very slow. we are still dealing with ancient paper ticket, years queuing in row with uncertain bus schedule and operator think they still need to be subsidized. government shall warn, penalize or discontinue the operator, otherwise we loss our momentum. we need operator deliver the promise and be part of solution attitude. there are a lot of successful transportation companies, replace with competent and can do attitude operator. number of buses and routes may quickly increases rapidly, equivalent the growth of passengers. the fuel hike and expensive parking fee will educate people to use public transportation, only if comfort is granted by competent public transportation operator, which is through timely, safe and comfort.one day new behavior will embed in most people after in order transportation management establish.

inobedience from other road users shall be treated and handled seriously. law enforcement shall be implemented rigidly in this such community. while, solid barrier such as big bump shall also be placed on the road adjacent to each bus stop. the big bump height has 5 cm less than bus's ground clearance and certain tire path meet bus tire's requirement. this will obstruct any vehicle to trespass the bus way. one day, when culture is there such physical barrier may not necessary any more.

the ultimate result is integrated route from other transportation modes and adjacent cities, with certain bus schedule. it will save a lot of time and money.

toll road is help some, but why there is traffic jam at every entrance toll gates? why non toll users become victims of traffic jam around toll gates? government shall push the close loop toll operators to simplify transaction at the exit.
this new arrangement will impact two things, no queuing at entrance toll gates and no flow distraction for trans jakarta routes.

subway, monorail or other mass transportation shall be top priority. building non toll elevated road is an example stupid program, spending trillion tax payer money for private vehicles, while abandoning the progressing mono rail project. absurd, but it has happened.

pavement for pedestrian and bike lane are the long forgotten traffic solution, where those two are real solution for short to medium distance range. it shall be both comfort and safe.

all in all, it shows real poor leadership commitment to shows the problem as complex and integrated. solution shall be multi year approach for multi transportation manners by multi local government with endorsement from national government. otherwise, solution may create other problems and traffic jam down to our door step.