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Trial is over; comply or pay Rp 500,000 fine
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Not an odd sight: Cars are trapped in a long traffic jam along Jl. Sudirman, South Jakarta, on Friday. The city administration decided to permanently apply the odd-even policy on Aug. 30. (JP/Jerry Adiguna)
T
he trial period is over. The odd-even license plate scheme, which was initially met with skepticism even by Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama himself, has been officially made a permanent policy.
Starting Tuesday, Jakarta motorists will have to comply with the new rule or pay a fine of Rp 500,000 (US$ 37.63).
And many have said they will just comply.
One motorist, Raja Muhammad Irfan, for instance, said he would start using public transportation to commute from his house in East Jakarta to his office in South Jakarta.
“I never liked taking public transportation since it makes me less flexible. But the policy will force me to use the train or TransJakarta [buses] on days my car is prohibited to enter [regulated thoroughfares],” the 23-year old told The Jakarta Post over the phone.
Under the scheme, which replaces the decade-long three-in-one policy, vehicles with odd license plate numbers can only enter the city’s main thoroughfares on odd dates, and even plate numbers on even dates.
The administration hopes that the policy — trialed from July 27 to Aug. 26 — will shift citizens’ commuting habits from driving private cars to using other transportation modes.
However, not all commuters are keen on taking public transportation. Diandra Barita, a corporate consultant, said she had been browsing showrooms to buy another car as she only drove a car with an odd license-plate.
“My job requires me to be constantly on the move, making the need to drive my own car necessary, so next month I will purchase a secondhand low-cost green car with an even license plate,” she said.
Despite encountering the policy with different attitudes, Irfan and Diandra agreed that they had to comply with the regulation, which targets private cars from Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Those exempt from the policy are the official cars of the President, Vice President, Cabinet ministers, as well as ambulances, motorcycles, taxis, public transportation, fire trucks and staple food delivery trucks.
Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono said on Friday that the police would impose strict sanctions to those violating the policy.
“In the trial, we did not give motorists sanctions because the policy was still being tested. Now we ask motorists to respect this policy as it is now being implemented as Gubernatorial Decree No. 164/2016,” he said.
Awi said the police would regularly deploy police officers at the regulated areas, which includes Central and South Jakarta’s Jl. Sudirman, Jl. MH Thamrin, Jl. Gatot Subroto and Jl. Sisingamangaraja.
“We also urge the Jakarta Transportation Agency to accelerate the installation of odd-even road signs because they have not been put up in some spots,” Awi asserted.
Aside from installing the necessary road signs, the agency will also implement supporting measures to maximize the policy’s impact. “We will coordinate with the police to evaluate alternative routes, improve the road separators on TransJakarta bus corridors, as well as repair several strategic roads, including Jl. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin,” the agency’s head Andri Yansyah said.
According to data from the Jakarta Police, in the month-long trial, the odd-even policy helped increase the average vehicle speed on policy-implemented roads by 20 percent to 28,9 kilometers per hour from 24,6 km per hour prior to the trial.
More people also took TransJakarta buses, as the police record an increase of monthly passengers in corridor I (Blok M — Kota) by 32.6 percent to 70,850; corridor VI (Ragunan — Dukuh Atas) by 27.2 percent to 28,636; and corridor IV (Pinang Ranti — Pluit) by 30.6 percent to 42,170. (adt)
