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City bogs down on bus lane ‘sterilization’ as traffic worsens
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The numbers of vehicles build up on Jl. Sudirman on April 5 during the trial removal of the three-in-one traffic restriction. Although the removal has worsened traffic congestion, the city administration made the policy permanent on May 16. (Antara /Puspa Perwitasari )
T
he Jakarta administration has bogged down on clearing all Transjakarta bus lanes of private vehicles, after discovering that its policy had worsened traffic across the capital.
Instead, Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama on Monday told his subordinates to only concentrate on clearing private vehicles from the lanes of Transjakarta Corridor I from Blok M in South Jakarta to Kota in North Jakarta.
“The ‘sterilization’ is prioritized along Corridor I. We will deploy more buses there,” the governor said.
On Friday, Ahok told police officers to ticket intruders in the dedicated lanes of all 12 Transjakarta bus corridors across the city starting on Monday. He said private vehicles would not be allowed to use the lanes no matter what the conditions of the roads.
However, Ahok has apparently come to realize that the policy had sparked even worse traffic congestion along the streets shared by Transjakarta bus lanes.
“I have tried to seek alternative roads to avoid traffic gridlock. The queue is very long,” said a motorist, who drove a car from Pejaten in South Jakarta to Palmerah in West Jakarta.
Another road user who took a Transjakarta bus from Pasar Minggu said that her bus was also affected by the worsening traffic, particularly when the bus had to pass through intersections where it had to wait in long queues of other vehicles.
Ahok said on Monday that the policy to clear Transjakarta lanes of private vehicles would be enforced after the city administration deployed more buses on those corridors. (bbn)
