Jakarta's transport system has moved away from sustainability over the past fifty years. Traffic accidents and air pollution have become serious problems, and growing congestion has resulted in increasing travel times. The present study was aimed at establishing how to reverse this trend and to uncover factors which may have been instrumental in the failure over recent decades to address this situation, and which may be corrected through better planning and policy.
To do this, previous urban transport studies commissioned to deal with these problems were critically reviewed to establish which of their recommendations had been adopted and what were the actual outcomes. A survey of the existing transport system was also undertaken, involving government officers, academics, members of transport associations and member of Non-Government Organisations involved in urban transport. A further survey was done to establish the views of these stake-holders on why the policies adopted had not solved the problems.
The study suggests that Jakarta has passed through three periods: a walking period, a transport modernisation period and a motorisation period. In the first two periods Jakarta appeared to have maintained a harmonious relationship between its high density, mixed-use urban form, ideally suited to non-motorised transport modes and to public transport. Even in the motorisation period, high density, mixed-use development has mostly followed major road corridors and remains well-suited to much higher use of public transport and non-motorised modes than currently exists. However, in this period, rapidly rising motor vehicle ownership and use began to come into conflict with the city's pre-automobile form. Road infrastructure could not be built fast enough to keep pace with traffic growth, despite almost exclusive commitment of available resources to road construction and improvement. High capacity public-transport systems, including rail and bus-ways, failed to materialise to help curb the motorisation process and to provide much needed relief on the roads.
It was established that to make real progress in solving the transport problems two constraints would have to be dealt with: the present almost exclusive reliance on the traditional urban transport planning process used in all previous studies, and the institutional fragmentation in transport policy and implementation.
Based on these findings, this study suggests a series of approaches to help deal with Jakarta's transport problems. In line with the global trend towards sustainability as an organising principle for urban policy development, these policies are offered within a framework of developing a more sustainable transport system in Jakarta. The policies suggested cover giving priority to facilitation of walking and cycling, development of public-transport infrastructure and transit-oriented, mixed land use, and a strong focus on management of transport demand. None of these will be achieved without institutional reform of Jakarta's transport decision-making structure
