Jakarta dedicated bus lane system is reaching its limits especially as accidents multiply and anger rise among the capital’s commuters.
For once, Indonesia’s capital city Jakarta can be proud of having something unique: from all the large urban areas located in Southeast Asia–Ho Chi Minh City and Yangon excepted- the Indonesian mega polis is the only one which still lacks an efficient public transport system. Delays in decision, difficulties to find financing, contractors’ insolvency and of course massive corruption succeeded to derail any attempt to build a proper dedicated city rail network. Talks about a MRT or a Monorail for the capital are over 30 years old now with so far no result!
In a sign of desperation, the former Jakarta city administration finally came out in 2004 with the decision to build a dedicated bus lane system which would run independently from Jakarta’s massive and almost permanent traffic jams in its streets. The TransJakarta bus system was heralded as the first step into a much needed mass transit system. They are currently 11 lanes which were used last year by 114.1 million of commuters, up by 36% over 2010. And so far, although not ideal, the TransJakarta bus network is probably the only way to circulate all around the city without being blocked for hours in a car.
But the TransJakarta system are also generating increasing frustration and anger as busses have been involved in a myriad of accidents over the last few years. The police recorded in the last three years over 500 such accidents including 36 mortal ones. This is generally not due to the negligence of bus drivers but mostly due to the fault of other vehicles’ owners. Many drivers- especially motorcycles- take the dedicated empty lanes to cut time. This is a particularly tempting solution when individual cars can spend an hour to just move a few hundred meters. Angry mobs already vandalized bus stops and vehicles.
Accidents involved also pedestrians who try to cross TransJakarta bus lanes. The last accident on Monday, when two youngsters on motorcycle were hit by a bus as they drove on the wrong direction of the lane, highlighted the urgency to further isolate bus corridors from general traffic. Corridors are just separate from the street by a 10 cm-high barrier. But now Jakarta police and the Jakarta Transportation Agency are calling for 50 centimeter-high barriers. “We hope raising the separator can effectively reduce the number of accidents on the bus lanes,” said Bernard Hutajulu, head of Jakarta Traffic Engineering to the newspaper Jakarta Globe. “It is expected to sterilize the bus lanes as people will find it difficult to cross, and motorcycles cannot cross the separators. Therefore, we will make it 50 centimeters.” Five corridors will be adapted this year and the rest over the next year.
But this will remain a temporary solution. The biggest issue for Jakarta remains how to solve the lack of efficient transportation system in the capital. Once a proper underground or rail transit system is built and operational, problems will be easier to solve. But it will still take at least a decade to see Jakarta moving on…
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
