My everyday route around Jakarta includes picking up my sister in Kebayoran Baru area. If you happen to pass this area, you would know that some minor but significant changes have happened in the past month or two. In some intersections one could no longer take a left- or right- or u-turn because the police has constructed concrete portals.
At first it happened only in one intersection that the police might have found to cause traffic jam in the area. Later people (including myself) find another shortcut route that soon was closed off as well. But still we notorious shortcutters find another route that I’m hoping would not be closed off by the police.
For me it’s not simply a matter of finding the shortest possible route that I can pass through without breaking any traffic regulation. Rather, I find that Indonesian traffic regulation attempts to find shortcuts to problems that could not be solved simply by closing off streets and asking people to take a detour instead.
If the last shortcut I take now is closed off, it means that I would have to take more than 3 kilometer detour to travel the same distance. That detour would have added a total of 6 kilometer to my original round-trip route, additional cost for gas at around Rp.2.700,-, and additional 15-20 minutes every day. This is equal to 30 kilometer, Rp. 13.500,-, and 75-100 minutes every week. 120 kilometer, Rp.54.000,-, and 300-400 minutes every month.
This personal cost captures the big loss of Jakarta’s population in general. The Study on Integrated Transportation Master Plan (SITRAMP) funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) estimated Jakarta’s traffic congestion caused the region to suffer annual economic loss in the amount of Rp.3,000 billion (US$ 315.7 million) for vehicle operating costs and Rp.2,500 billion (US$ 263.1 million) for travel time.
All too often temporary solutions are offered to solve problems that in turn create long-term repercussions. Instead of regulating shortcuts, perhaps the police should be thinking about how to create regulations to solve problems in the long-term.
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My econom friend, Arya Gaduh, in an out-of-the-blue attempt to convert me into one, managed to link this with an economic theory. Not sure I understand it, but sure! It sounds interesting :) See here.
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