Jakarta. The Jakarta Police are expanding their efforts to ease the city’s worsening traffic congestion, particularly during rush hours, by deploying additional personnel from the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) and the riot police unit Sabhara to support the traffic unit.

"This collaboration is new for us because traffic management has traditionally been the sole responsibility of the Traffic Directorate," Jakarta Police Chief Inspector General Karyoto said on Wednesday.

The expanded team will deploy officers on motorcycles to reach congestion hotspots more efficiently and assist with traffic control.

"If we use patrol cars, we will only worsen the congestion," Karyoto added.

Jakarta is notorious for having some of the worst traffic jams in the world, caused by an overwhelming number of vehicles, inadequate public transportation systems, and weak traffic law enforcement.

The central government has introduced new mass transit systems, including the MRT and LRT, across Greater Jakarta. However, these have done little to ease the overall traffic burden.

Traffic restriction measures, such as the odd-even license plate policy, have also proven insufficient in alleviating gridlocks.

The Jakarta Traffic Police have often been criticized for prioritizing motorcades of state officials and VIPs who use paid police escorts to bypass traffic. In many cases, vehicles with military or police license plates are granted priority access through congestion or allowed to use the dedicated TransJakarta bus lanes, further frustrating regular commuters.