Indonesia

Transportation

Figure 9. Transportation System, 1992

Roads

Road travel was the most important form of travel for both passengers and freight in the early 1990s and was given the highest priority for government transportation expenditures. From Repelita I (FY 1969-73) and Repelita II (FY 1974-78) through Repelita IV (FY 1984-88), about 55 percent of expenditures on transportation infrastructure was allocated to the extension and maintenance of roads, while 20 percent went to marine transportation, 15 percent to railroads, and 10 percent to air and river transportation (see fig. 9).

In 1989 a total of 250,000 kilometers of national, provincial, and district roads were reported in various states of repair, with 65 percent reported in good to moderate condition and 43 percent of the total reported as paved with asphalt. This was an increase of about 167,000 kilometers from 1967. Of this total, about 32 percent was classified as highways. Road density varied greatly throughout the archipelago, however; in Java there was 0.5 kilometer of road for every square kilometer in area; comparable values were 0.23 in Sulawesi, 0.16 in Sumatra, and only 0.04 in Kalimantan. The numbers of vehicles also increased dramatically--at a rate of about 14 percent per year from 1967 to 1989. By 1989 there were 8.3 million motor vehicles: 5.7 million motorcycles, 1.2 million automobiles, 1 million trucks, and 400,000 buses and smaller public transit vehicles. Jakarta alone accounted for 37 percent of all automobiles and 34 percent of all buses but only 18 percent of trucks and 13 percent of motorcycles.

Urban transit became increasingly dominated by motor vehicles, and in major cities the policy was to increase the role of public buses over privately owned, smaller-capacity vehicles such as the nine-seat microbus or opelet and the six-seat bemo. The once ubiquitous becak was being replaced by the motorized bajaj, or three-wheeled passenger motorcycle in the 1980s. Private automobiles remained largely a middle-class form of transportation but were still a major contributor to road congestion, a serious problem in most major cities. The expansion of major urban roads to reduce congestion was usually at the expense of pedestrian traffic. In Jakarta the increased road capacity contributed to urban sprawl and even greater traffic congestion as more families moved to surrounding suburbs. A flatrate fare structure subsidized long bus commutes, but buses were overcrowded in the 1990s despite the increases in their numbers.

Data as of November 1992

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