Behind the scenes on the busway project

Behind the scenes on the busway project

Sachin Gopalan, Business Analyst, Jakarta

sachin.gopalan@jditeam.com

Everyone nowadays seems to be going ballistic over the shiny
brand new TransJakarta project of the Governor of Jakarta.
Everyone wonders at the twisted logic behind some of the
decisions of the administration. Are they wrong or is it just
exciting to prove them wrong? What were they thinking? What
really goes on in their minds before they take major decisions
that affect our daily lives?

I am quite convinced that the administration must have acted
largely on a letter of suggestion received from one among the
thousand self styled expert consultants who live in Jakarta. If
you don't know what I mean, here is one such letter the project
manager of TransJakarta Busway Project could have received in the
early stages of the busway project:

"Dear Sir, last night as I was trying to sleep after reading
about your proposed Busway project, I had a premonition about
your project going wrong when you launch it. After thinking about
this all night, I decided to write to you and offer you my
expertise in managing a future problem.

Your main problem is going to be the issue of Public
Transportation Culture. We do not have this in Jakarta, as this
is something reserved for the "have-nots". The rest of the people
buy cars. You say that the traffic problem is created by the car
owners and of course they are the ones who will be against using
public transportation.

One can't blame them really, they have been conditioned by
years of your infrastructural neglect and thereby driven to
purchase cars, also elevating their social standing in the
process. So why should they use your Busway? No sir, it is those
who travel by the regular private buses, angkots and ojeks who
will be happy with your busway. But this does not help you in any
way.

So you have a big problem to handle. How do you get the
crowded cars off the road to make the Busway project look good?
As I am an expert traffic consultant and advisor, I have a
strategic busway plan for you.

As you know, we need to get car users to change over to the
Busway. Let us look at the car population in Jakarta. If you say
that an estimated four million cars run the roads of the city,
quite obviously, they will not just sell of the cars or keep them
at home, unused and costing money to maintain. So let's make it
difficult for them and squeeze them out of the CBD area. You will
not have to worry about people complaining if there are no people
there to complain.

Firstly, let us reserve one lane exclusively for the busway.
This will reduce the lanes available for the other vehicles and
put a lot of traffic pressure on the drivers. Now everyone will
have to crowd in the narrowed main road, and watch a busway pass
by every 3 or 4 minutes. They will get angry at the glaringly
obvious fact that the reserved busway lane is very much empty and
underutilized. Three minutes is a very long time for a road to be
vacant, especially if cars are packed in like sardines cans
alongside.

It is like adding salt on their wounds and this will make them
very angry. And sir, do not worry if TransJakarta buses have to
line up when one of them breaks down. We can get a towing truck
to back into the lane from somewhere up ahead. The watching
public will think that you don't know what you are doing and will
seriously think of avoiding the CBD area altogether in the
future.

For an even better result, I would like to suggest you to
place an Extended Three-in-one (E3-1) policy where three persons
have to be in the car anyway along the zone. Now we can
discourage car owners from using mannequins (yes, this is true,
you may not know of it, but there are many dummies being driven
around in cars in the CBD area) and jockeys at the entrances to
the zone.

Please also add additional evening timings and combine this
with a hefty fine (I suggest keeping this to something
outrageous, like perhaps the Airport Fiscal Exit Tax) and this
will surely keep unwanted cars out of the CBD area. Sometimes,
sir, I wonder if we should not use this policy in restaurants
too. Three people minimum at a table, or else take away your
food. Do you have a family member working in the department
responsible for hotels and restaurants that I can talk to?

Anyway, E3-1 will really work because it implies that the
third person in the cars has to work in the same building,
because they cannot get out of the car just anywhere in between.
Everyone absolutely has to go to the same destination.

What are the chances of this happening? Very remote sir, so
you will see an immediate reduction of cars on the road, I
guarantee. You are also killing two birds with one stone. E3-1
will generate permanent employment for car jockeys.

Office executives can now hire official car jockeys to ride in
the car whenever they have to go somewhere and send them back to
the office conveniently on the busway. Think of how many new
permanent jobs you can create. And additionally, you will always
have these new passengers to fill your busway during the daytime
and make it look successful.

I would also like to inform you about the long term benefits
of my strategy. I have observed that many businesses owners are
also car owners. They will soon figure out that it's not really
convenient to be working in the Central Business District with
all these problems thrown at them.

After all, they do base themselves there to have easy
proximity to clients, partners and suppliers. So then if access
is a problem, they will all move to lesser crowded areas in the
city. Companies will start relocating when the leases run out.
Then the traffic in the CBD area will definitely reduce and make
your busway project look like a runaway success.

I assure you that it will not be long before patience wears
thin and people actually start thinking of seriously making use
of the Busway or get out of there, both of which will make you
look good. In the end, I promise you that with my strategy, the
Busway will win.

I have already consulted my neighbor, a psychologist who works
at some park in Ragunan area, and he confirms that people, like
many of his regular clients, have a very short memory and soon,
like our government's regular gasoline price increases, this will
become a way of life for people and they will start thinking it's
the Busway or the highway.

If you like my suggestions and ideas, can you please consider
giving me a free parking slot along the Busway corridor entrances
so that I too can start using the Busway? In return, I promise to
write regular articles praising the busway project."

Mark my words, they are everywhere and you are surrounded. So
surrender and meekly join the ranks. Pain can sometimes be a self
elevating experience and signify rebirth into something new and
exciting. No pain, no gain, so let's all take the busway, again
and again.