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City urged to restore extended odd-even policy
In an attempt to alleviate pervasive traffic 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
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span>In an attempt to alleviate pervasive traffic 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.
The BPTJ’s data showed that 47.5 million trips were made throughout the capital each day, 50 percent of which originated on the outskirts and travelled into Jakarta.
Bambang said that applying the extended policy was therefore urgent.
“We are racing against time. If the [current] conditions persist, traffic congestion and air quality would worsen and the percentage of people using public transportation would decrease,” he said.
“It [the extended odd-even policy] is not a new thing. We are recommending a policy that we have tried and that the public are already familiar with,” he added.
The relevant officials and stakeholders, however, had yet to discuss the BPTJ’s recommendation.
Jakarta Transportation Agency head Syafrin Liputo said that he had yet to receive the letter and was willing to discuss the recommendation with the BPTJ, but pointed out that the current policy had eased congestion.
“The [average] vehicle speed has increased by [applying] the odd-even policy to several roads,” he said without further elaboration.
Jakarta Police traffic law enforcement head Sr. Comr. Yusuf expressed support for the BPTJ’s recommendation, which he said might indicate that the current policy was not making a significant impact in tackling congestion.
He added that applying the extended policy was “no problem, as long as the policy does not apply during the weekend [or on] national holidays”.
Tory Damantoro, the head of the Indonesian Transportation Society’s (MTI) Jakarta chapter, urged the city administration to implement the BPTJ’s recommendation.
“The evaluation the BPTJ conducted is a warning to the Jakarta administration, showing that the existing [policy] is less effectual and [that] the odd-even policy would be more optimal it is applied for a full day,” he said.
Tory also cited Achmad Izzul Waro — the business director of city-owned transportation company Transjakarta — whom he said claimed that 51 percent of Jakarta’s 10 million residents had access to Transjakarta buses every 500 meters, while 73 percent had access to the buses and public minivans under Transjakarta’s Jak Lingko system every 500 meters.
“In addition, the city administration has allocated very high subsidies to the transportation sector. If [the subsidies] are not supported by policies to restrict the use of private vehicles, [the subsidies] will not have optimum benefits,” said Tony.
The city administration has allocated annual subsidies of Rp 3.2 trillion (US$224.5 million) to Transjakarta and Rp 1 trillion in combined subsidies to MRT Jakarta and LRT Jakarta.
He expressed his belief that Jakarta could no longer expect to tackle its traffic woes solely by increasing the number of public transportation vehicles, and that it must also manage the volume of private vehicles on its streets.
“It is a mere matter of political will. The complexity of traffic congestion in Jakarta must be supported by demand management, such as vehicle restrictions and higher parking fees in particular zones,” he said.
