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Odd-even policy expansion improves speed, commuting times: Agency
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A police officer tickets a motorist who violated the odd-even traffic policy on Jl. Sudirman in South Jakarta. (kompas.com/David Oliver Purba)
T
he trial expansion of the odd-even license plate policy on Jakarta’s main thoroughfares, which started on July 2, has increased the average speed of vehicles and shortened commuting times, according to Jakarta Transportation Agency evaluation of the second week of the policy extension.
The policy, which regulates that cars with license plates ending in odd numbers are only allowed to travel in certain zones on odd-numbered dates and vice versa, was previously enforced only on Jl. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin during the morning and afternoon rush hour.
“The traffic performances have improved after the trial of the odd-even policy expansion. The average speed of vehicles has increased, and commuting times have shortened,” Jakarta Transportation Agency head Andri Yansyah said on Tuesday as reported by kompas.com.
Before the expansion, the average speed of vehicles was 20.63 kilometers per hour and on the second week it had increased to 23.14 kph, according to the agency.
Commuting time has also decreased by 12.11 percent on several roads.
“Before the odd-even policy expansion, [the average commuting time] was 15.56 minutes. In the first week of the trial, [the commuting time] decreased to 13.25 minutes and in the second week it increased to 13.68 minutes,” Andri said.
He said the commuting time in the first week was better than in the second week because citizens were afraid of being ticketed for driving in odd-even policy expansion areas. After drivers realized that they would not be ticketed, the commuting time in the second week increased.
He said that the agency aimed for the average speed of vehicles to improve by 20 percent before the beginning of August when drivers will be ticketed. (ami)
