JAKARTA, May 13 (Jakarta Post/ANN): After previously failing to convince workers and employers to alter their work schedules to alleviate the city's chronic traffic issues, the Jakarta administration has once again started a conversation surrounding staggered working hours to ease the capital's infamous gridlocks.
Jakarta acting governor Heru Budi Hartono has suggested private office workers start their morning at two different times, 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., claiming that such an adjustment could reduce morning traffic by at least 30 percent.
"Most office workers [in the downtown area of] Thamrin and Gatot Subroto area start their work day at 8 a.m.. If half of them start their day at a later time, morning traffic can be reduced by 30 percent," Heru said on Tuesday as quoted by Kompas.com.
Heru said the city administration would hold a discussion on the staggered working hours plan with experts and stakeholders.
The Jakarta authority had proposed a similar staggered working hours scheme in July last year, suggesting some office workers shift their working schedules to start at 10 or 11 a.m. or even change their schedule to the afternoon or evening.
However, the plan was strongly objected to by the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI) and the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), arguing that the arrangement would disturb employees' biological rhythms and reduce their productivity at work.
They were also skeptical about the staggered hours scheme’s effectiveness at reducing traffic congestion, claiming that shifting working times only a few hours apart would have little impact on traffic.
After conducting months of discussion with various stakeholders, Jakarta Transportation Agency head Syafrin Liputo in February said city officials would not impose any regulation on staggered working hours and would give the authority to determine office workers' working schedules to their employers. "
A large portion of office workers who work in Jakarta come from the satellite cities, so the Jakarta administration alone cannot determine their work schedules," Syafrin said at that time.
Persistent traffic woes Jakarta has long struggled with severe traffic congestion, with more than 22 million motorized vehicles traveling its roads and millions of workers commuting from its satellite cities every day.
In 2017, Jakarta was ranked fourth most congested city in the world, according to Dutch location technology company TomTom.
Its ranking has improved since, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, as schools were closed and people were forced to work from home to curb the spread of the virus.
A 2021 TomTom report ranked Jakarta as the 46th most congested city in the world. The city was ranked 37th in 2020 and 10th in 2019.
But as mobility slowly returns to pre-pandemic levels in response to plummeting Covid-19 cases and easing restrictions, major congestion has returned to the capital.
A 2022 TomTom report revealed Jakarta was the 29th most congested city in the world last year, moving up 17 places from the 2021 ranking.
City officials have carried out various efforts to curb the returning congestion, including by reinforcing an odd-even license plate policy on 25 major thoroughfares in Jakarta.
Introduced in 2016, the odd-even policy bars vehicles from certain roads on certain days based on the terminal digit of their license plates and the day of the month.
On an odd-numbered day, vehicles with an odd-number ending license plate may use the road and vice versa for even-number days. Opposition persists Criticism returned to the Jakarta administration's fresh plan to impose staggered working hours.
Some workers have taken to social media to say that instead of imposing staggered working hours, it would be better if the city administration issued a regulation requiring nonessential workers to work from home or implement a hybrid working model.
William Aditya Sarana, a city councilor from the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), argued that the staggered working hours policy would be difficult to impose and monitor.
"While the idea is good, its execution and monitoring would be difficult. There are hundreds of offices in Jakarta, the policy would be too complex to be implemented," William said in a statement on Monday.
"Instead of altering office workers' schedules, it's better to impose a policy requiring offices to impose remote or hybrid working models," he added.
Transportation expert Harya S. Dillon expressed doubts over the effectiveness of the proposed policy and suggested that the city maintain some level of remote or hybrid working as has been done in the past few years.
"The administration could also implement a travel demand management strategy, by building large-scale park and ride facilities around public transportation stations and increasing parking fees in office buildings around the stations at the same time," Harya said on Tuesday.
"This would encourage people to use public transportation and deter citizens from using private vehicles," he added. - Jakarta Post/ANN
