`Don't expect too much from busway'<\/p>\n
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The city administration plans to have the controversial busway
\nproject, scheduled for operation later this year, force commuters
\nto leave their vehicles at home, but transportation experts have
\nvoiced their pessimism that this aim will be achieved.<\/p>\n
Bambang Susantono of the University of Indonesia (UI), citing
\na survey, said only about 4 percent of motorists were willing to
\nshift to public transportation with service that was of a high
\nquality.<\/p>\n
The research was conducted by the Arterial Roads System Demand
\nStudy (ARSDS) in 1997 to learn whether private car users would be
\nready to shift to busway transportation as the government plans
\nto develop the bus rapid transit (BRT) facility.<\/p>\n
\"Don't expect that there will be a significant shift from
\nprivate cars to busway transportation as I believe that the
\nfigure would not be that different from the results of the
\nstudy,\" Bambang told a discussion on the city transportation
\nsystem on Friday.<\/p>\n
The city administration was preparing the 12.9 kilometer-long
\ncorridor for the busway, which will serve the route from Blok M
\nin South Jakarta to Kota in Central Jakarta and involve at least
\n60 buses.<\/p>\n
The buses will have air conditioning so passengers will mostly
\ninclude those who commute to work in private cars.<\/p>\n
The shift from the use of private cars to the buses is
\nexpected to ease severe traffic congestion across the city.<\/p>\n
The latest data from the City Transportation Agency shows that
\nthere are some 1.5 million private cars being driven in the
\ncapital, while the number of public transportation vehicles is
\nonly about 315,000.<\/p>\n
Bambang said that despite the busway project, traffic
\ncongestion would still plague Jakarta for the next five years. He
\ndid not elaborate further.<\/p>\n
He called for an intensive campaign to encourage private cars
\nto stay off the city's main thoroughfares when the busway project
\ngoes into operation.<\/p>\n
Bambang criticized the city administration for not taking
\ninitiative in launching a campaign adequately, even though the
\nbusway was scheduled to start in the next six months.<\/p>\n
Sharing the pessimism that the project would not be able to
\nsolve the city's transportation woes was Shayit Soebagio, a
\nformer senior officer at the City Transportation Agency's
\nresearch center, who also took part in the same discussion.<\/p>\n
He stressed the need for the city administration to outline a
\ncomprehensive transportation concept to use as its main reference
\nin developing the transportation system in the crowded capital.<\/p>\n
\"Without a comprehensive concept, any programs for the
\ntransportation system would be just another trial and error which
\nwould not resolve the problem comprehensively,\" Shayit said.<\/p>\n
Bambang said another problem the administration also faced was
\na lack of a clear concept on the bus feeder system, namely the
\ntransportation that brings in passengers from distant locations
\nto the main corridors.<\/p>\n
\"The high standard of the busway service would not be that
\nattractive if it was not integrated with other facilities with a
\nsimilar standard,\" Bambang told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
He said there were four requirements that had to be met to
\ndevelop good public transportation. They are comfort, safety,
\naffordability and reliability.<\/p>\n
Bambang said that a good feeder system would guarantee the
\nfulfillment of these four requirements.<\/p>\n
Other speakers at Friday's discussion sponsored by Media
\nIndonesia included the head of the transportation system
\ndevelopment division at the City Transportation Agency, D. A.
\nRini, and a member of the City Council's Commission D for
\ndevelopment affairs, Tjuk Sudono.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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