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fter a series of attempts to overcome traffic — one of the major concerns surrounding the upcoming Asian Games — the Greater Jakarta Transportation Body (BPTJ) is once again planning to carry out simulations in June, with the aim of keeping travel times within the 34-minute target limit for journeys from the athletes village in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, to several venues across the city.

Representatives from the Olympics Council of Asia (OCA) have frequently challenged the Indonesian Asian Games Organizing Committee (INASGOC) to tackle Jakarta’s traffic woes.

“We will announce the complete policy packages for the trial run,” BPTJ head Bambang Prihartono said Friday after a meeting with Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno at City Hall.

During simulations previously carried out by the city administration, the journey from the athletes village to Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) sports stadium took 50 minutes due to traffic congestion, despite the fact that the entourage had been escorted by the police.

The committee said long travel times would be exhausting for the athletes as they would have to depart earlier and arrive very late after competing.

Jakarta, notorious for chronic traffic congestion, will host the Games for two weeks from Aug. 18. It will be the second time since 1962 that Indonesia has hosted Asia’s most prestigious sporting event.

The authorities have already implemented an odd-even license plate traffic policy on several thoroughfares in Jakarta to achieve the targeted travel time for athletes.

The policy restricts certain vehicles from using certain roads. Cars whose license plates end in an odd number are only allowed to use certain roads on odd-numbered dates and vice versa.

The scheme is currently being applied on Jl. Sudirman-Jl. MH Thamrin and part of Jl. Gatot Subroto from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays.

The policy will be extended to Jl. Gatot Subroto and Jl. MT Haryono, and will be continued on Jl. Rasuna Said, Jl. DI Panjaitan and Jl. Ahmad Yani. It will also be applied from Jl. Metro Pondok Indah to Jl Kartika Utama in South Jakarta and Jl. Benyamin Sueb in North Jakarta.

A gubernatorial decree will be issued soon so that a trial run of the policy can be carried out to familiarize motorists with the planned rule.

At the same time, the odd-even policy has also been put in place at several tollgates in Greater Jakarta to limit the number of vehicles entering the city, including the East and West Bekasi tollgates, Cibubur 2 tollgate as well as the Kunciran 2 and Tangerang 2 tollgates.

Bambang said the agency would also limit trucks passing through all sections of the Jakarta Outer Ring Road to facilitate traffic flow in the city during the Asian Games.

Moreover, the Transportation Ministry’s land transportation director general Budi Setiadi said his office had prepared 250 premium buses for transporting athletes, adding that only highly-trained drivers would be recruited to drive the buses to ensure fast and smooth travel.

“We have just discussed the transportation for the Asian Games, especially to provide buses that can hold wheelchairs,” Sandiaga said.

Sandiaga said the city needed 800 wheelchair spaces on buses to transport the disabled during the Asian Games, and city bus operator PT Transjakarta and Jakarta Passenger Transportation (PPD) had committed to providing the buses. (ami)