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City seeks alternatives to ease traffic congestion
Traffic chaos in the city is often blamed on motorcycles and public transportation
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Traffic chaos in the city is often blamed on motorcycles and public transportation.
Recently, the city administration in conjunction with the police ruled all motorcycles and public transportation vehicles must use the left lane or the slow lane of the main roads, in a bid to reduce traffic accidents and ease traffic congestion.
They said they would put traffic signs and road markers along several busy roads, such as Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta, Jl. Matraman, Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan and Jl. D.I. Panjaitan in East Jakarta, Jl. S. Parman in West Jakarta, Jl. Yos Sudarso in North Jakarta and Jl. Ciputat Raya in South Jakarta.
As of Tuesday, there were no visible signs on the aforementioned roads, while motorcycles and public transportation vehicles kept taking the fast lane.
Muhammad Akbar, head of the technical traffic division at the city transportation agency, said the road markers would be ready in mid 2009.
"It is actually not a special lane like the Transjakarta bus lane. The markers will be in the form of white dashed lines," said Akbar.
"All motorcyclists and public transport vehicles should stay inside these lines.
We are teaming up with the police to enforce the law," he said.
The administration, he said, had allocated about Rp 3 billion (US$262,000) to carry out the upcoming project.
Police reported that motorcy-clists were less disciplined than car drivers.
In 2008, police recorded 5,898 accidents involving motorcycles, with 1,169 fatalities, 2,597 severe injuries and 4,317 minor injuries. Last year, police ticketed 272,495 motorcyclists.
Public transportation drivers also a cause for many traffic violations and accidents. Last year, police issued 111,396 tickets to public transportation drivers, while they recorded 2,076 accidents.
Tulus Abadi, a transportation expert from the Indonesian Consumers Fondation (YLKI), opposed the plan.
"It's the wrong way to solve traffic problems in the city," Tulus told The Jakarta Post. "Some countries do have such a lane, but much fewer motorcyles," he said.
According to the agency's data from 2008, there has been a 300 percent increase in the number of motorcycles in the city over the past four years.
"The most important thing in managing traffic is providing a cheap and accessible transportation system," said Tulus.
Besides new lanes for motorcycles and public transport vehicles, the administration plans to ban minibuses, locally known as Metromini or Kopaja, from the city's main thoroughfares.
Hendah Sunugroho, head of the land transportation division at the city transportation agency, said the ruling would be implemented to maximize space for Transjakarta buses.
"Large buses will have full rights to use the main roads," said Hendah. "Minibuses will take artery roads, while vehicles like mikrolet will operate on smaller roads," he said.
Public transport, like bajaj, will only be permitted to work in housing complexes.
"It will take more than three years to really clear the thoroughfares from minibuses," Hendah said. Minibus operators have rejected the plan, saying they could lose their income.
