City explores ERP traffic system

Mustaqim Adammrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta is being urged to follow the lead of cities like London, Stockholm and Singapore in introducing an electronic road pricing (ERP) system to ease chronic traffic congestion.

Budi Kuntjoro of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) and Darmaningtyas of the Transportation Institute (Intrans) said an ERP system would be effective in reducing Jakarta's notorious traffic.

Budi, a transportation expert and the project director at the ITDP, praised administration plans to introduce ERP.

"It's time for the administration to work on reducing traffic chaos by limiting and controlling the use of private vehicles instead of expanding the roads.

"There will never be enough roads to accommodate all the cars, even if they are continuously expanded," he said.

The city administration is making other, largely unsuccessful, attempts to ease traffic, including opening busway lanes to motorists during peak travel times.

On Tuesday, the second day motorists were allowed onto busway lanes, there was little visible difference in the traffic.

Erlangga Rismantojo, who drove along Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said through to Jl. Mampang in South Jakarta, said traffic was just as bad despite the new policy.

Budi said ERP was one solution for dealing with chronic traffic congestion and preventing the capital from coming to total gridlock by 2014.

Under the ERP system, motorists would be charged for using Jakarta's main thoroughfares.

Private vehicles account for 98 percent of all vehicles on the capital's roads, but they only transport half of all passengers, said Budi.

Darmaningtyas agreed Jakarta needed ERP, however, he questioned whether now was the right time to introduce the system.

"I believe the administration will eventually be able to implement the system, but not in a rush," he said.

He said implementing ERP would take time because the administration needed to lobby the Finance Ministry to issue the necessary regulations that would allow it to collect fees from motorists.

"On top of that, the administration will need a great deal of money," he said.

Singapore, he said, required at least Rp 6 trillion (US$654 million) for the procurement, preparation and operation of its ERP system.

Jakarta Transportation Agency deputy head Udar Pristono said the agency would complete its feasibility study for the ERP system by the end of this year, which is itself expected to cost Rp 1 trillion, Warta Kota newspaper reported Tuesday.

Darmaningtyas said the administration should first focus on optimizing the operations of all 10 busway corridors, including the three still under construction, before moving to the ERP project.

Sharing Darmaningtyas' opinion, the deputy chairman of the City Council's Commission D on development, Mukhayar, said the right time for the administration to implement the ERP system "is when all public transportation modes are giving good and decent service".

"The right time also depends on the availability of mass rapid transportation modes," he said.

The ERP system, he said, can only be applied on roads where "decent" public transportation is available.