T

he Transportation Agency has officially applied a motorcycle restriction to Jl. MH Thamrin and Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat following an evaluation that indicated smoother traffic flow in the designated areas during the three-month trial period.

Agency head Benjamin Bukit said he was looking at the possibility of extending the restrictions to Jl. Sudirman and even Ratu Plaza shopping mall in South Jakarta.

'€œWe have yet to decide when we will extend it, but it will certainly be implemented in the future,'€ he said on Tuesday.

According to him, he was still studying if the extended motorcycle restrictions would be as effective as those on the previous two streets, as the construction of the mass rapid transit (MRT) system was still going ahead on Jl. Sudirman.

Since Dec. 18, the city administration has restricted motorcyclists from Jl. MH Thamrin and Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat. Both streets were chosen in line with the city'€™s plan to impose an electronic road pricing (ERP) system on the capital'€™s main streets.

While the restrictions sparked anger among a number of motorcyclists who regularly used the two streets, the Jakarta Police are attempting to create a motorcycle lane on a section near their headquarters on Jl. Gatot Subroto, South Jakarta.

Starting in the first week of this month, the police have placed moveable concrete barriers (MCBs) for approximately 1 kilometer along Jl. Gatot Subroto between the Tax Directorate General Office and the police headquarters.

The barriers, in operation between 6:30 a.m. and 10 a.m., divide the road into one lane for motorcycles and three for cars.

Jakarta Police Traffic Directorate education and engineering unit head Adj. Sr. Comr. Warsinem said the traffic engineering was applied to ease congestion that had worsened following the construction of an overpass at the Kuningan intersection.

'€œWe are still at the stage of raising public awareness related to this policy, which is expected to ease congestion in the area,'€ Warsinem said.

Several years ago, the police tried to implement the same policy on Jl. Gatot Subroto by putting traffic cones in the left lane during the morning rush hour, hoping that motorcyclists would make use of the lane to keep the traffic in order, but it did not last, despite Article 108 of the 2009 Traffic Law stipulating that motorcycles should stick to the left lane.

Hardian, an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver, said policy makers only took the interests of car drivers into consideration. '€œ[With this policy], motorcyclists will have to spend more time on the road,'€ he said.