Jakarta Traffic Horror

By: Ed Caffin

Whoever has been to Indonesia’s capital Jakarta must agree: the city’s traffic ‘situation’ is a real disaster. To put it simply: there are just too many vehicles on too little road. Matters become extremely grim at rush hours when hundreds of thousands of motorised vehicles spill onto the streets to create one giant traffic jam. It is hard to imagine what that means, but stepping on the back of an ojek at rush hour might just be the best way to find out.

Motorcyclists at the traffic lights, By: Yekaterina Gaisenok

Not that I needed to know, but hey, do you want to get to know a city, or not? The ojek-trip started around 16:00 in the afternoon from Pasar Senen in the center of the city and ended in Lebak Bulus, roughly 17 kilometers towards the southwest. The driving skills of the ojek driver and the traffic jams could have hardly been worse.

In total the trip took nearly 80 minutes, about 50 of which were spent standing still. Also we were engaged in six near-accidents and witnessed 20 or so more. And last but not least: we both inhaled around 2.5 cubic meters of exhaust gasses. But nevermind, I made it home. And so did the other 2 million Jakartans that jammed the street for hours. Well, eventually they did.

For Jakartans, their city’s traffic horror is a fact of life. Kalau tidak macet, bukan Jakarta (When there is no traffic jam, it’s not Jakarta) is a phrase often heard. And it’s the truth: not one single hour goes by without a major jam somewhere on its bustling streets.

With an official population number of 9,5 million souls, Indonesia’s capital has grown into a mega-city. Subsequently, traffic has started to suffer mega-problems. It is estimated that around 1.5 million motorised vehicles are on the roads everyday, while there is space for only 1 million.

And matters are only getting worse. Last year the growth in the number of vehicles in Jakarta was well over a thousand units per day, 900 of which were motorcycles. A scaring growth rate of about 10%. But it can’t go on for much longer. According to official estimates, Jakarta’s traffic will come to a full gridlock by 2014.

Over the years, Jakarta has been looking for solutions, like the ‘3 in 1 rule’ during rush hour, where cars with fewer than three passengers are banned from the main roads and avenues. Another proposed solution to the traffic problem is building more roads and constructing flyovers, like the one from Cipete to Blok M. But that will increase road capacity just a little. And, of course, the futuristic monorail or MRT should add a solution, but no one knows if that project will ever become reality.

In the meantime, ojeks, angkuts, busses, becaks, cars and motorbikes continue to crawl over and under each other during daily mass-jams. To fully appreciate what mass-jam really means, take an ojek around ten in the morning or four in the afternoon. Make sure you don’t have an appointment at five.