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Five more cities to adopt busway system
Five more Indonesian cities will establish busway systems similar to ones already in operation in Jakarta, Bogor and Yogyakarta to help minimize the use of private vehicles and reduce traffic congestion, a Transportation Ministry official says
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Five more Indonesian cities will establish busway systems similar to ones already in operation in Jakarta, Bogor and Yogyakarta to help minimize the use of private vehicles and reduce traffic congestion, a Transportation Ministry official says.
Elly Sinaga, director of urban transportation at the ministry, said Tuesday her office was working with regional transportation agencies to build systems in Surakarta, Balikpapan, Pekanbaru, Semarang and Manado.
"We are developing the projects after successfully implementing the same scheme in Yogyakarta, Jakarta and Bogor," she said.
Yogyakarta has operated the busway system since February and Bogor implemented the system two months later. In Jakarta, the system was introduced in 2004.
Elly said her office had given the green light for regional transportation agencies to develop the projects, including building busway shelters and designating special lanes.
"We will provide up to 20 buses for each of the cities and will intensively monitor the progress of the scheme."
All of the systems are expected to start operating by the end of this year, with respective city administrations covering all the funding.
She declined to discuss the costs of setting up the systems.
"After the implementation of the systems, I hope the public can enjoy convenient public transportation and start leaving their private vehicles at home," she said.
Meanwhile, Iskandar Abubakar, the ministry's director general for land transportation, said his office was struggling to find alternative energies to replace fossil fuels.
"We will not be badly affected by high fuel prices if we use alternative energy resources," he said.
The government increased subsidized fuel prices -- Premium gasoline, diesel and kerosene -- by an average of 28.7 percent in May on fears global oil prices would continue to rise, causing the fuel subsidy to balloon, crippling the state budget.
Iskandar said his office was considering charging high parking fees on private cars to help discourage people from using their vehicles.
He was hopeful such an effort would help minimize fuel usage in the transportation sector, which accounts for 48 percent of total fuel consumption in the country.
"Private vehicles account for 88 percent of the fuel consumption in the transportation sector," he said. (ewd)
