T

he Jakarta administration confirmed Monday that it would resume enforcing the three-in-one carpooling policy, but this time only in the afternoon, after an initial trial revocation showed that traffic on the capital’s main roads got heavier without it.

The policy, introduced in 1992, was previously applied from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on busy roads such as Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta and Jl. Sudirman in Central and South Jakarta.

The policy came under a spotlight and was eventually suspended after it was found to possibly encourage child abuse.

“The three-in-one policy will only be applied in the afternoon,” Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama said Monday as quoted by wartakotalive.com. He, however, did not elaborate about the exact hours the measure will be imposed.

The administration is currently conducting a trial suspension of the policy to see how its absence affects traffic in the city. The first phase of the trial conducted early last month showed that the number of vehicles using the main roads increased by up to 30 percent during the rush hours, causing traffic congestion.

Ahok said traffic in the morning was not as heavy as in the afternoon so the measure was not needed during the a.m. hours.