Being the country’s second-most popular tourist destination after Bali, Yogyakarta has always been crowded with visitors during holidays, creating many traffic jams, especially those around Ground Zero areas including Malioboro, the kraton, Beringharjo and Vredeburg Fortress.

Even during weekends, tourist buses have to compete with private cars and motorcycles along the city’s main streets as many spaces in these areas have also been used to park cars. Unless something is done about it, many fear that in the long run Yogyakarta will not be that attractive to tourists.

“We indeed have been receiving complaints about the traffic through our tourist information center,” head of the provincial Tourism Agency Tazbir Abdullah told The Jakarta Post.

He said Yogyakarta was a small city, and parking lots could not entirely accommodate tourists’ vehicles, especially ...