disentangling Jakarta's traffic congestion

As published in IPA Voices

Traffic congestion has been the biggest problem faced by Jakarta for decades. From 2004 to 2010, number of vehicles in Jakarta grew at 12 percent annually, while road length only grew at 0.01 percent [i]. Out of 20.9 million daily trips within Greater Jakarta, 34 percent of them are made by private vehicles, the highest such share among cities of comparable size (see Figure 1). The average time commuters spent on the street has also increased significantly. A trip from my house at the western tip of Jakarta to the National Monument in Central Jakarta, which used to take me around 45 minutes in 2005, now takes around 75 minutes.

	Private Vehicles	Public Transports	Others
Jakarta, 2010	34%	28%	38%
Tokyo, 2009	12%	51%	37%
Mumbai, 2011	15%	52%	33%
Shanghai, 2011	20%	33%	47%
Beijing, 2011	21%	26%	53%
New York, 2009	29%	55%	16%
Delhi, 2011	19%	48%	33%
Seoul, 2010	26%	63%	11%

Figure 1. Distribution of modal share in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi (Jabodetabek) and other cities of comparable size. Source: Reference Materials for Governor of DKI Jakarta, Jakarta Transportation Agency (Dishub Jakarta), Dec 2010.

One possible way to cope with increasing traffic congestion in Jakarta is to significantly increase the road (to total area) ratio [ii]. The previous administration has approved a proposal to build new toll roads in Jakarta’s downtown which will add 0.3 percent to the current ratio of 6.26 percent. The completion of these roads will ease traffic on several heavily-used roads that run in parallel with the planned toll roads. However, such move will only encourage people to drive private vehicles and will further exacerbate traffic congestion in areas that become the destination of most commuters, such as Sudirman and Kuningan.

Another possible solution is to reduce the number of vehicles on the street. This is the aim of the new provincial government led by Joko Widodo when they expressed their plans to implement odd-evens car restriction policy [iii], Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) scheme, as well as other policies to increase economic disincentives of driving private vehicles in Jakarta. This policy might be successful in forcingsome people to use public transports. However, without a change on the way people think about using public transports over private vehicles, creative Indonesians might find a way to circumvent the regulation and thus enabling them to drive their private vehicles without much restriction or incurring any extra costs. This is exactly what happened with the existing “3-in-1” scheme [iv]. Any cars are now able to enter “3-in-1” restricted roads by hiring “jockeys” [v] to meet the requirement of having at least 3 passengers inside the car.

Traffic congestion is more complex than just the number of vehicles and road length. Playing around with these two variables will not solve the problem. The solution is to reduce the number of vehicles on the street by making people voluntarily willing to switch to public transports. This is only possible when there is a shift on the way people look at public transports. For this paradigm shift to happen there must be both push and pull factors. The push factor would be the economic disincentives of driving private vehicles on the streets of Jakarta. The pull factor would be the convenient, reliable, affordable, and well integrated public transports.

The Push Factor

Disincentive policies must be pursued progressively, starting from the most lenient policy adapted to the current state of public transports in Jakarta. ERP would be a good choice to start with. For ERP to work, the government should define a restricted zone. Restricted zone should initially be limited to roads with sufficient access to public transports. Roads served by TransJakarta Busway Corridor 1 would be the best candidate [vi]. ERP could then be activated on these roads. The size of restricted zone could then be increased gradually in the future to include roads with improved access to public transports.

Parking rate for lots within the restricted zone should then be increased steadily. To complement this policy, government should introduce a park-and-ride scheme. Subscription to this scheme will allow drivers to park their vehicles in designated parking lots near major transport interchanges (located before entering the restricted zone) at a significantly lower rate and to transfer to public transports. Therefore, if a driver chooses to drive his or her car into the restricted zone, he or she will incur an ERP toll as well as higher parking rate. It would then be more beneficial for him or her to leave the car in a designated park-and-ride parking lot and then transfer to public transports.

Stronger policies such as limiting age of vehicles registered in Jakarta, imposing more taxes such as road taxes or higher value-added taxes to Jakarta-registered vehicles, or even removing completely fuel subsidy for private vehicles in Jakarta, could be mulled over once public transports met the required standard. By then, as rational beings, Jakartans would see that it is economically more beneficial for them to take public transports rather than using their own vehicles. Hence, the number of private vehicles on the street would be reduced and traffic congestion is going to be a problem of the past.

The Pull Factor 

Jakarta’s public transports must be convenient, reliable, affordable, and well integrated.  Capacity improvement should also be the top priority. Public transports should cover at least half of total daily trips made in 2020 within Greater Jakarta, in order to reduce traffic by 30 to 40 percent [vii].

First of all, there is a pressing need to build mass rapid transit (MRT) networks in Jakarta. MRT has the highest passenger-carrying capacity per line which makes it suitable for Jakarta. The planned 2 MRT lines would be able to carry around 1.9 million passengers each day by 2018 [viii]. MRT network should also be expanded to cover other heavily trafficked areas such as Palmerah, Kuningan, Matraman, and Kemayoran.

Secondly, existing public buses [ix] must be revamped in order to improve quality of service and reduce congestions caused by them. Buses armada must be rejuvenated with newer and air-conditioned units. Bus frequency must also be regularized and enforcement must be made to ensure buses stop only at designated bus stops. Public bus drivers should then be compensated with fixed wages. Currently, most are paid in commissions taken as a percentage of income that they get from passengers every day. Therefore, the more passengers they have, the more commissions they could keep. This has led them to stop on roadsides waiting for their buses to be full, eventually leading to serious congestion. Such a fixed compensation will obviate the need to wait for more passengers to board the bus and might eventually reduce congestion.

In addition, TransJakarta Busway should be improved so that each corridor could serve at least 10,000 passengers hourly. The average number of passengers per corridor hourly in 2011 was only 1,850 [x], way below similar system in Curitiba, which is able to transport 10,000 passengers hourly, and Bogota, with 35,000 passengers hourly [xi]. In order to reach this capacity, bus frequency must be increased and average boarding time reduced. This could be achieved by introducing more 2-door and articulated buses, which have more capacity and allow shorter boarding time. Inevitably, waiting time is reduced and bus stops will be less crowded, making TransJakarta a more convenient and attractive choice.

Furthermore, the efficiency of existing commuter railway, KRL Jabodetabek, must be significantly increased. In 2010, KRL Jabodetabek had carrying capacity of only 407,550 passengers daily [xii]. As a transportation backbone between Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi, and Jakarta, KRL Jabodetabekshould have its capacity increased to at least 2 million passengers daily. This will cover half of the trips made between these regions and Jakarta (see Figure 2).  To reach this capacity, headway must be reduced to below 5 minutes by increasing train frequency, modernizing signaling systems, and reducing the number of level crossing. 

	Total trips, daily
Within Jakarta	16,703,167
From and to Tangerang	1,158,486
From and to Serpong	562,661
From and to Bogor, Depok, and Cileungsi	1,185,403
From and to Bekasi	1,330,554
Total	20,940,271

Figure 2. Number of trips from and to Jakarta, as as well as within Jakarta, 2010 Figures. Source: Reference Materials for Governor of DKI Jakarta, Jakarta Transportation Agency (Dishub Jakarta), Dec 2010.

Finally, all these efforts would not be effective if all systems are not well integrated with each other.KRL Jabodetabek should be integrated with TransJakarta Busway and MRT system to allow seamless transfer between them. Designated park-and-ride parking lots must be well placed near major interchanges as well. Integration should also include integrated fare and ticketing across all systems. Non-integrated public transport systems will cause inconvenience, increased travel time, and eventually lead to decrease of ridership.

The Hurdles 

However there are several hurdles waiting to be overcome. The biggest one might come from car industry which has most profited from the fast vehicles growth in Jakarta. They might have a strong lobbying power with the government and potentially thwart any efforts to introduce ERP, build MRT, and impose more disincentives on private vehicles. The byzantine Indonesian bureaucracy and uncertain regulations have further worsened the condition. The first study for Jakarta MRT was started in 1995, but it has not made any progress only until recently. Another challenge is in setting fare which is affordable and able to cover at least the operational costs of service providers. Therefore, the new public transports system will not only attract private vehicle owners, but also retain their current users: Jakarta’s poorest. If we could overcome these hurdles, Jakarta would be a better city: its public transports are thriving, its air is cleaner, and it would be more pleasant to walk and cycle on Jakarta’s street.

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[i] Jakarta in Figures 2011, Statistics of DKI Jakarta Province (BPS Provinsi DKI Jakarta), 2011.

[ii] Jakarta’s road to total area ratio is only 6.26%, much lower than Tokyo (22%) and Singapore (12%).

[iii] This policy will limit the number of cars on the street by car’s license plate number, similar with the policy implemented in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics. All vehicles with plate number ending in an odd number will only be allowed to enter restricted areas every other day. On days when odd numbered license plates are allowed, vehicles with license plates ending in an even number are prohibited. Exemptions are given for ambulances, fire trucks, and other emergency vehicles.

[iv] Roads under the “3-in-1” traffic management scheme are restricted to cars with less than 3 passengers in it.

[v] “Jockey” is an extra passenger paid to allow the car to enter 3-in-1 restricted area.

[vi] These roads are: Jl Sisingamangaraja, Jl Jend Sudirman, Jl MH Thamrin, Jl Medan Merdeka Barat, Jl Majapahit, Jl Gajah Mada, Jl Hayam Wuruk, and Jl Pintu Besar Selatan.

[vii] Heru Sutomo, Jakarta Urban Transport Policy: Racing with Fast Motorization, Centre for Transportation and Logistics Studies (PUSTRAL) Gadjah Mada University, 2010, p7.

[viii] Ex-ante Evaluation for the Construction of Jakarta Mass Rapid Transit Project (I), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), 2009.

[ix] Public buses include not only large bus, but also Metromini, Kopaja, and minibuses such as Mikrolet.

[x] Jakarta in Figures 2011, Statistics of DKI Jakarta Province (BPS Provinsi DKI Jakarta), 2011.

[xi] Making TransJakarta Busway a World Class BRT System, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), November 2007, p4.

[xii] Jakarta in Figures 2011, Statistics of DKI Jakarta Province (BPS Provinsi DKI Jakarta), 2011.

what is so amazing about ... Indonesia?

When I was still in junior high school, I had always dreamed of leaving Indonesia, continuing my study somewhere else, and pursuing career overseas. However now, that dream has now changed. I want to go back to Indonesia in the near future! I believe, nationalism came into one's soul through many factors. One of those, I believe, came when someone lived outside their home country for a period of time, and through that period, one started to realise how beautiful their home-country is, and how things are so much different in the country ones resided in with their home country. The same thing happened to me as well.

I have been to so many countries in Europe, I have been to Thailand and Vietnam, but when someone asked me, where have you been in Indonesia? I can only mention several places: Java Island, Palembang, Padang. Even I haven't been to my dad's birthplace in Banjarmasin! There are so many places in Indonesia that I really want to see. Hopefully I can fulfill this dream one day:

Bunaken (1)
Bunaken National Marine Park in North Sulawesi has one of the clearest water in Indonesia. From the boat, you can see the corals, plus all the fishes and other biota living there. But, just looking at them from the surface without going into the water will be totally a waste. Diving there is highly recommended. The good thing is that diving requires swimming skill, and one of a few sports that I can do quite well is swimming :P. I'll just need to find a time in which I can get a diving license.


Mount Bromo (2)
Bromo is one of the most active volcano in Java Island, located in the Tenger region in East java. Its last eruption occurred in 2007. Mount Semeru, another active volcano, is found nearby, and together they form Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park. Hiking is a must! Some of my friends are going to Mount Kinabalu in the middle of this year and they have been practicing a lot! I think I need to start practicing soon >.<


Sumba Island (3)
Sumba Island produces one of the best breed of horses in Indonesia (Kuda Sumba). The Sumbanese are all natural horse-riders and one of their long lasting tradition is a Pasola game. in which teams of horse-riders fight with spears. Sumba is also one of the few places in the world in which megalithic burial are still practiced.


Kelimutu (4)
Located in the island of Flores, Kelimutu volcano is famous for its three summit crater lakes with varying colors. Tiwu Ata Mbupu (Lake of Old People) is usually blue and is the westernmost of the three lakes. The other two lakes, Tiwu Nuwa Muri Koo Fai (Lake of Young Men and Maidens) and Tiwu Ata Polo (Bewitched or Enchanted Lake) are separated by a shared crater wall and are typically green or red in color, respectively. This phenomenon is something that I will not miss!


Tana Toraja (5)
Tana Toraja, or the Land of Toraja, in South Sulawesi, is famous for its traditional Tongkonan house, spectacular burial rites and its burial places. After a person's death, the body is kept — often for several years — while money is saved to pay for the actual funeral ceremony, known as tomate. During the festival, which may last up to a week, ritual dances and buffalo fights are held, and buffaloes and pigs are slaughtered to ferry the soul of the deceased to the afterlife (puya). The deceased is then finally buried either in a small cave, often with a tau-tau effigy placed in front, inside a hollow tree or even left exposed to the elements in a bamboo frame hanging from a cliff.


Komodo Island (6)
Komodo Island, the natural habitat of Komodo dragon, the largest living species of lizard in the world! This is something that shouldn't be missed as well!


Bangka Island (7)
Bangka has some of the most beautiful beaches in Indonesia. Its fame has been over-shadowed by the more popular Bali and Lombok island. If you are looking for a nice beach far from the crowds, Bangka Island is probably a good choice ;)


Lake Toba (8)
Lake Toba is what is left from a supervolcano. It was the site of a massive eruption occurred 69,000-77,000 years ago, an event which changed the world's climate. This eruption is believed to have been the largest anywhere on Earth in the last 25 million years!


Borneo Island (9)
Borneo (Kalimantan), is the second biggest island in the Malay archipelago, and the third largest island in the world! It is very rich in biodiversity and a home to 15,000 species of flowering plants with 3,000 species of trees, 221 species of terrestrial mammals and 420 species of birds. It's also a home to Orangutan which is now endangered. My dad's ancestor came from Fujian region in China and settled in Banjarmasin (South Kalimantan) before moving to Jakarta in 1960s.


Nias Island (10)
Devastated by a severe earthquake which caused tsunamis in December 2004, and again in March 2005 it was hit by another strong earthquake, Nias is now rebuilding itself. Nias is an internationally famous surfing destination. Nias best known for its remarkable diversity of festivals and celebration: War Dances, and Stone Jumping, a manhood ritual that sees young men leaping over two meter stone towers to their fate.

the first hundred days of Yudhoyono’s administration

As it is published in "Hey Diaspora!"
http://heydiaspora.com/the-first-hundred-days-of-yudhoyonos-administration/

"Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth."

– Abraham Lincoln

First Hundred Days, a tradition that dated back to the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt during the period of New Deal in the United States, has been adopted by Indonesian presidents since the administration of Megawati Sukarnoputri in 1999. Many have criticized the effectiveness of this first hundred days program, yet it remains a good parameter to understand the direction of the government.

President Yudhoyono has set 45 programs to be implemented by his cabinet in the first hundred days in office including 15 priority programs:  judicial mafia eradication, strategic industries revitalization, terrorism prevention, adequate electricity supply, food security, sugar and fertilizer industry revitalization, infrastructures improvement, spatial planning restructuring, improvement of credit scheme policy for small and medium-enterprises, better budget management, climate and environmental change prevention, health reform, education reform, good disaster management, and synchronization of relations between central and local administrations.

Dr. Boediono, in an invited public lecture hosted by Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) a few months ago, stressed out that the main goal of this new government is “to meet the expectation of all people, obtain equitable prosperity for all, and establish Indonesia as a respected member of the world’s community.” This strong commitment is focused in achieving the wellbeing of the people, which is dubbed as people-centric-economic-policy (ekonomi kerakyatan).

In a separate occasion, during a two-day summit ASEAN Summit in Bangkok this October, President Yudhoyono stated that the government is determined to raise real GDP growth to 7% per year, reduce poverty and unemployment, and improve the investment climate.

Seven out of fifteen of the priority programs are set to achieve this economic agenda. We would like to see how this target could be achieved and the challenges facing Yudhoyono’s administration ahead.

Electricity Crisis

"What did people use for lighting in Indonesia before they used candles?"

– I hope the answer is not electricity…

Electricity crisis has been facing Indonesia since 2008. Electricity consumption grows 6.87% every year, compared with the growth of the generating capacity of only 3.5% every year. Blackouts are spreading across Java, and are increasingly common in the other islands as well. PT PLN was unable to increase the electricity capacity in the year 2008. This inability is mainly attributed to the lack in the government budget planning. “In the company’s work budget plan, PLN had only targeted the load growth to be five percents, with fuel demand at around nine million kiloliters,” said Muljo Adji, PT PLN’s Manager of Load and Distribution Center, “that alone takes around Rp 69 trillion in fuel subsidies and the government only allocated subsidies of Rp 54.9 trillion in the draft Revised 2008 State Budget.”

According to the recent statement from the Coordinating Minister of Economics, Hatta Radjasa, for this year, another Rp 30 trillion will be needed to provide adequate electricity supply in Indonesia. “Rp 5.6 trillion is allocated to fulfill the electricity demand in the area of DKI Jakarta alone.”

In order to get Indonesia out of this crisis, there is an urgent need to construct new power plants. Construction of new power plants will be done through Independent Power Producer (IPP) scheme, to encourage independent private entities to own facilities to generate electric power for sale to end users. Furthermore, there will be reorganization plan for the PT PLN itself. All of these efforts will require a stable source of financing, such as credit loans and direct investments.

Infrastructure Improvements

Dr. Boediono mentioned three types of infrastructure that this administration will focus on: physical infrastructure, institutional infrastructure, and social infrastructure. One of the main priorities of the current government is to improve physical infrastructure in the form of transportation and communication infrastructure which serve as the back bone of the Indonesian domestic economy. This includes: improvement and constructions of new roads totaling 19,370 km, improvement of ports and harbors, and access to the phone line in all 32 provinces.

If fully implemented, improvement in physical infrastructures will greatly boost the domestic national economy and increase the Indonesia’s economic growth which still largely depends on domestic national economy rather than exports. However, how does the government finance this effort? Funding will remain one important key aspect towards the realization of any programs.

Furthermore, still another problem persists. At the start of 2009, the government announced a large stimulus package of Rp 71.3 trillion, Rp 11.6 trillion of which was set aside for infrastructure. However, only a quarter of this figure has been spent by the end of this year. Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Public Works both have a poor track record in disbursing funds.

Persistent problems in disbursing funds in recent years have meant that public spending has fallen short of projections. Stimulus and other planned infrastructure projects will only be effective if the government can overcome these problems. The nature of Indonesia’s financial management and budget disbursement procedures will continue to thwart the realization of any programs. Yet, there are no specific initiatives to tackle this constraint which have been announced by Yudhoyono’s administration.

Budget Deficit and Financing

Budget deficit has been classic news in Indonesia. It has been increasing ever since the year 2005, from 0.2% of the GDP up to 2.6% of GDP in the year 2009. On one hand, budget deficit could be used to purposefully stimulate the economy. However on the other hand, budget deficit requires government to find source of funds to finance all of its spending which couldn’t be covered by governmental revenue alone. President Yudhoyono and his team need to work together to find the best stable and healthy source of financing.

Increasing foreign debts should be one of the least preferred ways to finance the budget deficit. Indonesia’s foreign debt has been growing steadily from the year 2001, from USD 58.791 billion all the way to USD 65.7 billion this year. This will only increase Indonesia’s dependence on foreign aids.

The most preferred way is to increase foreign investments and export. The classical problem with Indonesia which always tends to distract investors away is the inadequate legal system, weak protection of private property rights, and the decentralized structure of the government all undermine policy towards foreign investment. President Yudhoyono has promised to improve the business and investment climate in order to thrive for both domestic and foreign investments. However until now, no specific action plan has been devised to further the investment climate in Indonesia, especially to attract more foreign direct investments to the country.

The prospect on export has not been good either. Indonesia’s export value within the period of January-October 2009 reached USD 92.03 billion, a 22.31% decreased from the same period last year. It has also been predicted that this decrease will continue as the external demand for the country’s exports will weaken. The rapid appreciation in the rupiah against the US dollar this year has also led to concerns about a loss of competitiveness for exporters and the possibility of currency volatility. Minister of Trade, Mari Pangestu, mentioned that Indonesian exporters are not concerned by the strengthening rupiah, but they are apprehensive about the speed of the appreciation and the volatility of the exchange rate. The government should work together to create a healthy climate for exporters and Bank Indonesia should maintain its policy in preventing volatility rather than targeting a specific level for the currency.

Challenges and Closing Remark

One of the biggest challenges for President’s Yudhoyono administration to achieve this first hundred days program is the direct attempt to discredit the Corruption Eradication Committee (Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi, KPK) and the corruption allegation related to the liquidity funds to help Century Bank. These two cases have been preoccupying President Yudhoyono, Vice-President Boediono, and Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani and might have affected their performance in the first hundred days.

Another challenge lies within the bureaucracy. Indonesia is still lacking in a good institutional infrastructure. Bureaucracy still tends to be ineffective and inefficient to play its role as the agent of development. For many cases in Indonesia, the procedure has never been clear. The fund disbursement problem mentioned above shows one weakness within Indonesia’s bureaucracy.

There has been much hope in the new Yudhoyono’s administration. President Yudhoyono and his team must always remember that their mandate comes from the people. They should work together for the wellbeing and social equity of its people. They should serve the welfare and the greater good of all. It’s of the utmost importance for a good government to ensure the fulfillment of the basic needs of all citizens so that they could become respected members in the society. Thus the focus is no longer on what is demanded, but what is needed by the citizens. What are needed by the Indonesian people right now? Answering this question and the adoption of this attitude will be one of the key successes of President Yudhoyono’s administration.