Traffic Jam in Jakarta

Traffic jam in Jakarta is one of several problems that have not been solved yet by the government until nowadays. The main cause is the number of transportation. Reducing the use of private vehicle, such as car or motorcycle, and lack of attention from the local governor are problems that must be considered by every people to reduce congestion in Jakarta.

The number of people in Jakarta is very anxious due to traffic congestion in Jakarta and surrounding areas which is getting worse. Even the highway that is used to free us from traffic jam really hampers our way because of the car everywhere. This circumstance can hinder the activities of road users. It can waste our time and money because we can be stuck for hours and it can exhaust the fuel which is very expensive now.

By reducing the use of private vehicle, it really can help to decrease sticking everywhere, especially in metropolitan district like Jakarta. But this problem is very difficult to be realization because of many families that is more emphasizing their importance than mutual interest. Not infrequently the families that have more than one car, even a single head of household has one car. If in one family have five family members, imagine if those five cars out of all to the road.

We are as road users in Jakarta should be aware that the congestion that happens now has been getting worse. Therefore, decrease the use of private cars, or at least one car containing three persons. This way really sounds very trivial, but if many people and families do this way, the impact would be large and clearly visible.

Not only reduce the use of cars, motorcycle riders also should realize that they can disturb other road users, such as car drivers or pedestrian, if they ride it. Usually, motorcycle riders are sloppier and undisciplined in the used of the road than car drivers because the riders think that motorcycle is smaller than car, so they can easily overtake other vehicles, especially cars. The worst thing is when we get traffic jam, consider the situation around us, then we can see that that there are so many riders who pass the side walk for pedestrian, even pass the way of Trans Jakarta.

Besides reducing the use of private vehicle, such as car or motorcycle, attention from the government, principally the local governor, should take part in this very serious problem. It is because that in fact, the government and the governor have not acted decisively yet to this issue, and they can only blame road users. They do so because they do not feel what others feel. Wherever they go, they are always escorted by police, so they never felt hitting by traffic jam.

Actually, we should be able to follow other countries, for instance Germany. It is one of automaker countries, but Germans rarely out of their house or go to work by car. It is because its local government set very expensive charge for parking fees. Of course it makes people there think twice to take the car out of their house, and they prefer to use public transportation, like bus or train, than private car. That problem is very contrast to Indonesia; the cost of parking here is very cheap, about Rp. 1.000 per-hour. Therefore car drivers feel pampered by the government to use the car.

Another case is less attention from the local governor to public transportation facilities, especially bus and train. It is one of reasons why people prefer driving cars or riding motorcycle to get on the bus or train. The pubic transportations here, particularly in Jakarta, are pretty awful if it is compared with public transportation in Japan, for instance. The government of Japan notice to it in order to people there feel as comfort as possible.

Reducing the use of private vehicle may be difficult for nowadays because they do not want to use public transportation, such as bus and train, before the government repair the facilities of them. So, we as the citizens must give confirmation to the government and local governor to take action against this problem. And, we are also no need to wait the command from governor, just self-consciousness.