This was a transparent attempt to use techies love of Waze to influence opinion about ultra conservative public planning ideas.
Building more roads does not make traffic better. They shit on public transit while completely ignoring any other benefits (e.g. cost efficiency, energy efficiency, safety) or the possibility of growth.
It was obvious that this article was bullshit within the first few paragraphs.
My suspicion is the statistic is too vague to be meaningful. I would bet that the key here is the average person in LA commutes every day, but I suspect the person in Jakarta does not commute in a way that is easily measured for the purpose of this statistic.
> In 2017, the average L.A. commuter spent 102 hours in rush hour traffic, making it the most congested city in the world
Having lived in Jakarta and Bangkok, this is extremely hard to believe. LA is horrible for a supposed first world country, sure, but it's nothing like some of the asian megacities. 102 hours a year? I'd wager many jakartans spend 102 hours per month!
Very questionable reporting IMO.