City extends, expands three-in-one traffic policy<\/p>\n
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Objections from motorists to the Jakarta Administration's plan to
\nextend the three-in-one traffic policy apparently did not deter
\nthe bureaucrats from continuing their plan and even expanding it.<\/p>\n
City secretary for development affairs Irzal Djamal, who is
\nalso head of the busway project team, told The Jakarta Post on
\nWednesday that the policy would be enforced to support the
\nlaunching of 60 buses in the Bus Rapid Transit or busway project
\nin January.<\/p>\n
The three-in-one policy requires that vehicles must have at
\nleast three passengers while driving along Jl. Jend. Sudirman and
\nJl. M.H. Thamrin from 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., Monday to Friday.<\/p>\n
The new policy will be enforced all along the 12.9-kilometer
\nbusway corridor from Blok M in South Jakarta to Kota in West
\nJakarta from 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and also from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.<\/p>\n
Irzal said that he was preparing a gubernatorial decree, which
\nwould become the legal basis for the extended policy.<\/p>\n
Since being launched in 1993, the policy failed to reduce
\ncongestion along the main thoroughfares as motorists simply began
\nhiring joki (people posing as passengers for hundreds meters as
\nthey passed the single checkpoint) for a small fee.<\/p>\n
Irzal said that motorists would not be able to hire joki as
\nthe three-in-one policy would be effective for the length of the
\nroads as opposed to just at the entrances as it is now. He
\nestimated that the new policy could reduce the number of private
\ncars along the well-traveled roads by up to 30 percent.<\/p>\n
Separately, Director-General of Land Transportation at the
\nMinistry of Communications, Iskandar Abubakar, still estimated
\nthat severe congestion would occur along the roads from Blok M to
\nKota once the busway became operational.<\/p>\n
\"The severe congestion is unavoidable as one lane of the road
\nwill be used for the busway. Many private car owners are still
\nusing their vehicles and still reluctant to take buses, even the
\nnew busway,\" he told the Post after speaking at a seminar on the
\nJakarta macro-transportation model.<\/p>\n
Iskandar said that the busway would only be effective if
\nprivate car users opted for the busway when commuting.<\/p>\n
Irzal admitted that the busway system was not yet ready to
\ntransport all 60,000 commuters along the Blok M-Kota route as its
\n60 buses could only accommodate some 20,000 commuters per day.<\/p>\n
Tickets for the busway have been ordered from Colombia which
\nhas been successful in implementing a similar busway in its
\ncapital Bogota.<\/p>\n
\"The tickets will be ready in January when the busway is
\nready. The ticket fee is not fixed yet but we estimate it should
\ncost Rp 2,500 (29 U.S. cents) per trip,\" he said. The ticket is
\ncheaper than other air-conditioned buses, which are currently Rp
\n3,500.<\/p>\n
Irzal also mentioned two other alternatives that would be
\napplied if the busway operation was not effective enough to
\nreduce the traffic.<\/p>\n
The first possibility is the alternate license plate program,
\nwhich only allows vehicles with certain plate numbers to operate
\non certain days.<\/p>\n
For example, cars with plate numbers ending with 1 or 2 are
\nallowed to operate on the designated roads on Mondays.<\/p>\n
The second alternative is implementing electronic road pricing
\non certain roads near the busway corridors.<\/p>\n
Irzal said that his team was still studying this system,
\nsaying that such a system had worked well in Singapore and could
\nalso be applied in Jakarta.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/city-extends-expands-three-in-one-traffic-policy-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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