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BPTJ urges restoring 15-hour, extended odd-even traffic policy
The Greater Jakarta Transportation Agency (BPTJ) is pushing the Jakarta administration to apply the odd-even traffic policy from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily to ease congestion in the capital.
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Jakarta Police officers check the license plates of cars stuck in traffic at the Senayan traffic circle on Aug. 30, 2018. The Greater Jakarta Transportation Agency (BPTJ) has recommended that the 15-hour odd-even traffic policy be applied instead of the current policy, which is effective only during peak hours in the morning and the evening. (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak)
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n an attempt to alleviate pervasive congestion in the capital, the Greater Jakarta Transportation Agency (BPTJ) has called on the city administration to restore the extended odd-even traffic policy that was implemented last August during the 2018 Asian Games.
In a letter dated July 8, the agency recommended that the city implement an odd-even policy that was effective from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, excluding weekends and national holidays.
The current odd-even policy is in effect from 6 a.m to 9 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays.
The odd-even policy limits the number of cars on the city’s streets by restricting access depending on whether the vehicle's license plate ends in an odd number or an even number. The policy applies only during certain hours and on certain roads, as determined by the Jakarta administration.
The BPTJ made the recommendation based on its latest evaluation of the policy on traffic along Jakarta's main thoroughfares. The results showed that the average vehicle speed in the first half of the year had decreased to 30.85 kilometers per hour, 17 percent slower than the average vehicle speed of 36.99 kmh recorded during the Asian Games.
This year's figure was also lower than the average vehicle speed of 35.32 kmh in the agency's previous evaluation in December 2018, indicating that vehicles were spending more time stuck in traffic.
BPTJ head Bambang Prihartono said on Wednesday that the recommendation aimed to accelerate the shift in the city's transportation culture from private vehicles to public transportation.
