[sustran] becaks and bajaj-re: Dr. Cervero's comments

Institute for Transportation and Development Policy mobility at igc.apc.org
Thu Sep 25 23:22:16 JST 1997


[ Paul Barter here... This contribution from Walter Hook on 19 September
was accidentally sent to owner-sustran-discuss at ....  rather than
sustran-discuss at .... (Walter..please check the address that you use).  This
means it came only to me in Kuala Lumpur.   Unfortunately, I didn't notice
the mistake and assumed it had gone to the whole list.  I am very sorry
Walter!  Anyway, here it is a little late.  Walter was making a direct
response to Robert Cervero's posting which began as follows:

>Date: Fri, 19 Sep 1997 01:36:18 -0700
>From: Robert Cervero <rob at popper.ced.Berkeley.edu>
>Subject: Re: [sustran] becaks & bajajs
>At the risk of backing myself into a cyber-debate, I've got a few comments
>in response to Mr. Hook's contrasting views on the role of becaks and bajajs
>in Jakarta.

Sorry again for not passing this on to the list when I first received it.
Paul.]



Cyberdebate is the purpose of this email list, so feel free to back in.

Many of us on this email list, including myself, are quite familiar with
Jakarta and its environs from extensive travel and work there, and we also
have strong opinions.  I respond to some of your comments as I hope the
debate is found to be constructive by others on the list.  I hope we can
work towards some consensus, as I value your insights into a country I care
deeply about.

Most of the foreign consultants I know that have acted as advisors to the
Indonesian government, including Dr. Dimitriou and many folks from Parsons
Brinkerhoff, recommended that the becaks be allowed to remain as a feeder
system in the kampungs to the bus system operating on the main arteries, as
they continue to function in the outlying areas.  This is not what happened.
Many of the foreign consultants I know also recommended improving conditions
for pedestrians, becak, and cyclists, and not the outright banning of these
modes, but then again I guess my contacts are from different circles.  I've
spent hours  sitting in unbreathable air in congested traffic in Jakarta.  I
think Bangkok and Sao Paulo may be worse, but this is hardly an achievement
to be proud of, and hardly the result of any admirable 'efficiency-based
public policy.'  I would like to hear your suggestions for how we can
redress the 'ineqities and harm caused.'  I fully support facilitating the
travel and operation of motorized paratransit of many forms in Jakarta.  I
also agree that congestion charges, higher registration and parking fees,
carbon taxes et. to fund special lanes for minibuses, off peak staging
areas, etc. are worth pursuing.  I also agree that more problematic still is
the gutting of an increasing number of urban kampungs, pushing more and more
people to the periphery.  It is also true that travel speeds on the toll
roads are faster, particularly the toll road to the airport is very fast,
largely because the prices are too high for most motorists, worsening
congestion on the untolled network.

But nearly as many kampungs are being gutted by new road construction.  The
toll road to the airport cut through a massive kampung.  The population
density on Java is so high that the enormous spacial demands of the
burgeoning highway infrastructure is driving the forced resettlement of tens
of thousands of families each year.  Its not just hotels and multinational
businesses.  The population density of Java is the highest of anywhere in
the world.  Space-intensive motorization is driving the conversion of an
increasing amount of environmentally sensitive land and agricultural land as
well.  It is hard to imagine, with the sort of gridlock already manifesting
itself in Jakarta, what it will look like if motor vehicle ownership figures
rise to European levels.

My observations about the ojeks and their utility for women came from
complaints of many women living in Jakarta.  So women have to wear slacks
now in order to go out of the house?  There are women in Indonesia over 25.

I agree that road space needs to be rationalized, but rationality would
dictate allocating road space to favor modes with higher capacity/flow
ratios.  Even the Dept. of Land Transport admits that the 3 in 1 program has
been largely a failure as it only applies to a short stretch of road, and is
easily avoided and poorly enforced.  Rationalizing road space would require
exclusive bus and paratransit lanes.  But how do we get them?  The plans
already exist; its a matter of building political support for them.  We
don't need any more foreign consultants developing nice plans that will
never be implemented.  And lets not forget that 40% of the trips in Jakarta
are made on foot, and walking is still the predominant mode used by the
majority of the poor.  Something like 40% of the road infrastructure has no
sidewalks, however.  Is this the 'rationality' that you speak of?

And why not bicycle and becak lanes?  Perhaps Setty Pendakur would know how
the capacity/flow characteristics of becaks measure up to BMWs.  I think
they are fairly close.  Bicycles are certainly more efficient users of road
space than BMWs and taxis.  It seems to me that there is a thriving bicycle
market in Jakarta, and this mode could certainly be more extensively
utilized.  Wouldn't making it possible to travel in Jakarta by foot and by
bicycle and becak also be rational?  Why not developing a bicycle network
also?  Kuala Lumpur, thanks to SUSTRAN's urging, has decided to develop one
for that polluted and congested city.  Can we have your support for this?

If we are going to ban cycle rickshaws and bajaj, why not ban single
occupant motor vehicles?  Why is one 'rational' and the other 'ideological?'
Even in Jakarta only one person in maybe six has access to a private motor
vehicle, and in the country as a whole its only one per 100 or 200.

I don't think that employment is a silly issue to discuss in terms of the
poor in Jakarta, and banning the becak and now the bajaj will certainly
had/have adverse employment effects among the poor.

If you have reliable numbers on the number of becaks between 1970 and 1985,
I would love to see that data and know how it was collected, because I
haven't seen anything reliable to indicate a decline in their utilization
prior to the ban.

I agree that there needs to be more regional planning.  But who would do it?
Master planning without public participation?  Didn't we try this in the
U.S. in the 1960s, and didn't it lead to highways being paved through low
income black neighborhoods, and a less than efficient and less than
environmentally sustainable transport system here in the U.S.?  Who would
run such a master planning exercize in Jakarta?  Some foreign consultants
who have done such a stellar job so far?  I have a headache from the air
pollution from the minute I step off the plane until the moment I leave.
Upper respiratory illness in Jakarta and lead poisoning of children are
endemic, if recent studies are to be believed.

I agree about impact fees and pushing for better zoning and land use.  But
what is the political constituence for this in Indonesia, or here in the
U.S. for that matter?  Currently building codes require new facilities to
build minimum numbers of parking spaces will little attention to the ability
of the road network to accommodate these trips. This would be a simple
change.  How can we push for this?

Certainly you agree that there is a difference between enforcing planning
and environmental regulations (which are rarely heeded here in the U.S.
either) and physically dumping cycle rickshaws into the Jakarta bay?  Most
of the human rights groups in Indonesia agreed that the later represented a
human rights violation.  Should the same be done to bajaj, even though they
admittedly do produce a lot of pollution?

I am frequently in Jakarta, on funds provided by Foundations primarily
interested in promoting environmental sustainability and public sector
accountability.  My biases are indeed in this direction.  This is where my
paycheck comes from.  Knowledge is situated.  If you don't mind my asking,
what brings you to Jakarta?

Sincerely,
Walter Hook




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