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welve years after the Transjakarta bus system was inaugurated the city administration still cannot seem to find the right solution to keeping the dedicated lanes clear.

The lanes being hogged by other motorists has prevented the bus system from becoming a sufficiently effective public transportation service to persuade private vehicle owners to leave their cars and motorcycles behind.

In its latest effort, the administration has called on the Jakarta Police to stop allowing cars and motorcycles to enter the lanes during heavy congestion.

Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama said over the weekend that he had requested the police not to allow other vehicles except Transjakarta buses and emergency vehicles such as ambulances and fire trucks to use the lanes.

“Not even vehicles belonging to the police, public officials or those from embassies are allowed to use Transjakarta’s lanes,” he said.

He said, however, that he made an exception for vehicles with “RI” license plates. Such plates are only for very senior state officials’ vehicles such as the President, Vice President and ministers. “In case they are late for presidential meetings, I will give them an exemption,” he said.

Ahok said it was the only way to keep the lanes sterile. “We need it, so during emergencies, ambulance and fire trucks will easily pass the road during congestion,” he said.

The city administration has made many attempts to sterilize the lanes, ranging from installing high separators and imposing fines of Rp 500,000 (US$37.4) for motorists who trespass on the lanes, to installing gates.

The efforts, however, have never been comprehensive or sustainable. At some point the situation eventually returns to normal with motorists frequently passing through the supposedly dedicated lanes with or without police officers present.

The number of passengers using Transjakarta buses has also begun to decline as the lanes have become blocked and passengers are forced to wait longer for buses.

The Institute for Transportation & Development Policy(ITDP) recorded that Transjakarta buses could serve an average of approximately 15,200 passengers per hour in 2012, but this fell to only 14,100 passengers per hour in 2015.

Transportation Agency head Andri Yansyah said the police should be consistent in keeping the lanes sterile from private vehicles.

“We need people to suffer from congestion, so they will switch to public transportation,” he said.

Andri said in order to make the efforts more effective, the Jasa Marga Agency would speed up the installation of median concrete barriers (MCB) that have been installed on many main roads.

The agency head said he would hold a meeting with other parties, including the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) and the police to determine the critical spots that needed to be monitored intensively.

He said the realization would be implemented gradually.

Transjakarta president director Budi Kaliwono said his company would also install more manual gates to discourage motorists from using the lanes.

Budi said the longer waiting times on some corridors were a result of many factors.

He gave an example of Corridor 1 serving Blok M in South Jakarta to Kota in West Jakarta, which has been hampered by the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) construction project.

“The road narrows, so the articulated buses need to slow down and be more careful,” he said.