Untangling The Wicked Issues of Traffic Congestion in Jabodetabek
Introduction
Jakarta, the sprawling capital of Indonesia, is part of the Jakarta Metropolitan Area (JMA), which includes the cities of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi. With a population of 33 million people, it is the second largest megacity in the world. However, the city is plagued by a major problem: traffic congestion. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) in 2019, 70% of Jakartans rely on private motorized transportation. This heavy dependence on cars has exacerbated the issue of traffic congestion, locally known as “macet”. This issue has always been on top of the mind when nearing political elections, long holiday to Ramadhan, or when to blame for the construction of bicycle lanes.
The impact of traffic congestion is significant and has been widely documented. It leads to wasted productive time, air pollution that reduces life expectancy and contributes to the threat of climate change. To understand the underlying reasons behind this issue, we need to analyze it with the Complex Adaptive System (CAS) approach. Alford & Brian (2017) developed a matrix to help understand the complexity of an issue where it can be explained with two main dimensions, as explained in Figure 1. It can be answered from the intricateness of the problems, whether the problem or solutions are clear, and the degree of cooperation between stakeholders if they are converging, diverging, or even conflicting.
Figure 1. Alternative Type of Complex Problem (Alford & Head, 2017)
In the issue of traffic congestion in Jakarta, it arguably falls under the category of a wicked problem. This issue involves multiple actors, and the root cause for the issue itself is still unclear. The issue becomes wicked when there is no definitive problem statement and hence no clear solutions. CAS perspective is useful to answer such issue, as it’s defined as:
“Social systems that are diverse, non-linear, consisting of multiple interactive, interdependent, and interconnected sub-elements” (Waddock et al., p.996, 2013)
Turner & Baker (2019) further explained numerous basic tenets of CAS, and this essay only focuses on self-organization, path dependence, non-deterministic, and emergences aspects. These four categories are useful in explaining different driving forces that cause the issue of traffic congestion. This essay explains each aspect according to the dimension of time to give a more nuanced perspective.
Self organized city
Jakarta has always been a self-organized city where actors have a self-interest in development and no shared goals. This phenomenon began in the 14th century when local settlements known as kampung self-built their neighborhoods during Dutch colonialism. According to Irawaty (2018), planning practices back then were ethnically based, with kampong residents perceived as “indigenous neighborhoods” that did not require public infrastructure. Figure 2shows how the Dutch residence (red area) was located on the main street with adequate infrastructure, while the kampong residents were situated far away from the main area and in disaster-prone areas. Despite a lack of support from the authorities, the kampong neighborhoods have continued to evolve and fill every gap of development in Jakarta, even to this day.
Figure 2. The Dutch occupied the main economic corridor while locals occupied the swamp area (G. Kolff & Co, 1940)
In 1945, Soekarno as the first president of Indonesia dictated the development of massive infrastructure projects with a mindset to show national sovereignty. He insisted that national identity can be built through the construction of mega infrastructure projects. His most notable projects during that time were the National Monument (Monas) and Gelora Bung Karnor (GBK) stadium. However, his ambitions extended beyond these monumental projects. Soekarno also initiated the development of Kebayoran Baru in 1955, a new town on the outskirt of Jakarta which would be the seed for sprawling development in the future (Hidayati et al., 2019). He terminated the public transportation services of the tramline in the 1960s and replaced it with investment in road infrastructure for motorized vehicles.
After the fall of Soekarno and it transitioned to Soeharto, the development of Jakarta became more sporadic without any clear direction. During the period from 1960s to 1990s, Soeharto introduced a series of deregulation policies in property development to support developers (Winarso & Firman, 2002)
The market forces predominantly drove the development of settlements located in the suburban areas of Jakarta. Between 1990 and 1994, the proportion of vacant land in Jabodetabek increased by 1600 percent, indicating the land speculation tactic used by developers. Winarso & Firman (2002) discovered that only a few developers connected with President Soeharto controlled hundreds of residential permits. The interplay between the government and land developers created an oligopolistic land market where developers controlled the supply and demand of settlements in Jabodetabek, as illustrated in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Location of residential development in the suburban area of Jakarta (Winarso & Firman, 2002)
The market-driven development by the authoritarian regime created an uneven distribution of land values, with activity concentrated mainly in central areas. According to Sheng Han & Basuki’s (2001) analysis, the distance from the city center is the most significant factor influencing land values. Figure 4illustrates this finding, as land values are much higher in central Jakarta where economic activity is concentrated. All of these phenomena illustrate how Jabodetabek is evolving organically where market-driven forces from developers dictate the development and self-organized effort by kampong residents to find the space in between.
Figure 4. Spatial distribution of highest land values in Jakarta, 1997 (Sheng Han & Basuki, 2001)
Path dependence development into a car-oriented city
The scattered growth of residential areas in the metropolitan city has led to an increase in automobile-dependent development. Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, constructing road infrastructure and toll roads was seen as the only way to meet mobility demands. In Figure 5, as depicted by Herlambang et al. (2019), suburban housing is heavily reliant on toll roads and supporting arterial roads for connectivity. As a result, people have become more dependent on private vehicles, especially with the national government providing tax incentives.
Figure 5. Suburban areas connected with tollroads (Herlambang et al., 2019)
The non-deterministic outcome of public transportation project
The previous sprawling land management has dictated the type of mobility development in Jakarta with the ultimate focus on motorized private vehicles. However, in 1998 the reformation happened, and the authoritarian regime was ousted from the seat of government. Municipalities gained more control over their areas, and a shift towards sustainable transportation began. In 2004, Jakarta established its first BRT corridor that cut straight into the city center. This effort proved to be significant since the Transjakarta services managed to serve 1 million passengers per day in 2020 (Transjakarta, 2021). Another successful intervention was also shown by the commuter rail, where it managed to serve 900,000 passengers per day in 2019. As well as MRT and LRT Jakarta, although the number of passengers serves is still not significant.
Despite these efforts to move away from automobile-centric development, public transportation use in Jabodetabek remains low at 22%, with private vehicles, especially motorcycles, being used at a rate of 64.2% (BPS, 2019). One of the reasons for this is that public transportation development has only occurred in Jakarta.
A study done by Pangarso et al. (2022), explained by Figure 6, through a data journalism approach (assumption of 1 kilometer walking radius from the transit point), shows that public transport coverage in Jakarta reached 96.1%, but only 26.2% in the suburban areas. Fragmented knowledge and different interest from each municipality contributed to the failure of public transportation development. The municipal city outside Jakarta still considers public transport a non-essential public need, resulting in a lack of budget allocation (Ato, 2022).
Figure 6. Percentage of public transportation coverage in the Jakarta Metropolitan Area (Pangarso et al., 2022)
The emergence of online motorcycle taxis (ojek online)
The effort to push the mobility regime into more dependent on public transportation is hampered by the emergence of ojek online. It emerged in early 2010 with a startup called Gojek which started as a call center but eventually developed an app to connect riders with drivers for point-to-point travel. Millions of people are using the apps, but in November 2015, the National Government decided to ban the operation because it has no legal basis. This decision led to protests from the drivers, and after the protests, President Jokowi allowed Gojek to continue its operation (Adi Laksana, 2019). This phenomenon has shown how the current government decided to side with the private motorized transportation regime. The argument for this preference is that public transportation cannot meet people’s mobility needs, and alternative services are necessary. However, this approach may lead to further dependence on cars in the Jabodetabek region.
Figure 7. Motorcycle taxis occupy the street to pick up passengers (Rolan, 2019)
Impact
The impact of being too dependent on motorized vehicles is not limited to traffic congestion, but it ultimately leads to high mobility costs. The sprawling development and high dependency on private vehicles create unequal access to employment opportunities. Not all the group can afford a private vehicle, affecting access to job opportunities, financial burden, and feeling of exclusion (Hidayati et al., 2021). This condition impacts the economic sustainability of people living in suburban areas as they have to spend more money on mobility than people living in Jakarta, as explained in Figure 8.
Figure 8. Comparison of average monthly expenses between Jakarta and its metropolitan area, 2019 (BPS, 2019)
Conclusion
The complex theory helps to understand how each actor interacts and influences a city’s development. Jakarta was developed into a car-oriented city because of the unequal power distribution with the self-interest of actors who influenced the city’s development. In the early stage, the Dutch neglected the planning for local people because of racial values. Continue to the Old Order, where the president held a point of view that modernization is related to suburbanization and car infrastructure. This condition was exaggerated when the authoritarian regime led by Soeharto accumulated power in his circle. The urban land nexus was shaped by the real estate company that invested in residential development in the suburban area, leading to more distance for people to access their workplace since the economy is centralized into one area. Real estate developers can operate without control because they are part of the family of the authoritarian regime.
The complex theory also explains that the previous condition influences the results of certain outcomes. The mobility issue is wicked because the existing structure where cities developed with sprawl development affects how the mobility infrastructure is prepared. Particularly when the actor only provides toll roads and road infrastructure, assuming everybody can buy their own private car/motorcycle. Another functional complexity theory is non-deterministic when the government wants to change the situation through public transport investment but fails because of different interests between each municipality. They have fragmented knowledge and authority in planning public transportation that ends up in a disintegrated network.
The last thing is complexity gives an understanding that the future will be uncertain because the city is an open system that can receive responses from anywhere. There will unexpected forces emerge which will disrupt or strengthen the existing regime. In the study cases, the emergence of motorcycle taxis disrupts the already poorly managed public transport system in the metropolitan area. The innovation managed to establish a large force of habit change in society that they even managed to sway the national government to accept illegal “public transportation” (e.g., online motorcycle taxis and cars).
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