T

he City Police have thrown their weight behind the administration’s proposal to ban old clapped-out buses from Jakarta’s streets.

City Police Traffic Division head Sr. Comr. Royke Lumowa said Wednesday that keeping clapped-out buses off the city’s streets and replacing them with cleaner and more comfortable public transportation vehicles would encourage more people to leave their cars at home.

Royke said old buses were no longer comfortable for passengers, and that their often reckless drivers posed a grave danger to their passengers and other motorists.

“Public transportation vehicles are no longer comfortable. They are dirty and drivers have become more and more reckless. This situation discourages more and more passengers from public transportation,” he said.

Royke said the police would monitor the streets to ensure old buses were not being used, and also crack down on reckless bus drivers.

“We are going to impose harsher punishments on reckless drivers. We expect that this will reduce the number of traffic accidents,” he said.

Data from the City Transportation Agency showed that in 2010 320 of 1,642 buses impounded for traffic violations were not road-worthy. In 2010, police handed out tickets to 333 bus drivers for reckless driving.

As of Jan. 11, the agency had banned 35 buses from operating and slapped fines on 10 drivers. The agency said it planned to continue its crack-down, as 8,428 of the 11,091 city buses in operation had not completed the required vehicle standard test.

To improve Jakarta’s drastic public transportation, the city plans to build two more TransJakarta corridors in the next two years.

Despite its mediocre service, TransJakarta has seen a significant increase in passenger numbers since it was introduced, from 61.4 million in 2007, to 74.6 million in 2008.

The city also plans to begin construction on a mass rapid transit and monorail network in the coming years.