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Ahok to use Transjakarta lanes for Asian Games athletes
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Officers from the Jakarta Traffic Police and the transportation agency stop a motorcyclist for trespassing on the dedicated Transjakarta bus lane on Jl. Daan Mogot in West Jakarta. The city administration has started to clear Transjakarta lanes of private vehicles, a policy meant to provide the city with emergency evacuation routes. (Warta Kota/Nur Ichsan)
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akarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has said he plans to transport athletes who will play in the 2018 Asian Games over Transjakarta lanes so that they can move easily from one venue to another.
“Like other cities that host big events, Jakarta will certainly experience worsening traffic congestion. Therefore, we hope the evacuation routes will be clear so we could maximize them [to move athletes],” Ahok said in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Since last week, the city administration started to clear Transjakarta lanes of private vehicles, a policy meant to provide the city with emergency evacuation routes and to discourage people from driving their own private vehicles.
“We don’t want to call them Transjakarta lanes anymore. Those are evacuation routes to evacuate people, buses, fire trucks, or important officials,” Ahok said.
The Asian Games, which will start on Aug. 18, 2018, are to be held in Palembang, South Sumatra, Banten, Jakarta and West Java. The Olympics Council of Asia (OCA) has approved 37 sports to be played in the quadrennial multi-sporting event: 28 Olympic sports and nine non-Olympic ones.
However, concerns have increased because Jakarta is known as one of the cities with the worst traffic in the world. According to the Castrol Index in 2015, Jakarta ranked as the city with the highest number of stops and starts, with an average of 33,240 per driver per year.
The administration has started the construction of a light rail transit (LRT) system, which will connect Asian Games venues such as the velodrome complex in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, the Britama basketball court at the Kelapa Gading Sports Mall in North Jakarta and the athletes village in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.
Ahok said he expect the construction would be finished before the event, so that Jakartans could easily reach the venues to watch the games. (vps/bbn)
