Bekasi bus terminal expansion necessary

Bekasi bus terminal expansion necessary

BEKASI (JP): The notorious traffic congestion in and around
the 1.3 hectare bus terminal has reach such a level that the
Bekasi administration plans to expand the terminal.

The terminal, originally designed to accommodate 10,000 buses
a day, is packed daily with more than 70,000 buses, including
inter-city ones, according to chief of the Bekasi land
transportation agency Endang Durachim.

Bambang Prayitno, chief of the economic agency, said that to
ease the traffic, the Bekasi government has built a number of
smaller terminals, such as in Perumnas I, Pekayon, Sumber Arta,
Tambun, Bulak Kapal and Bantargebang.

"More sub-terminals are under construction," Bambang said.

Bekasi terminal director R. Tommy Ramli said the local
government has long planned to expand the terminal but the lack
of funds has prevented them from doing so.

In the past, traffic authorities tried to overcome the traffic
problem by rerouting buses through residential areas. But it
ended up in failure because it caused traffic jams everywhere.

Now that the government allows buses to service more inter-
city routes, such as to Bogor, Depok, Garut, Tasik Malaya,
Pangandaran and Sukabumi and even Sumatra, traffic at the station
will get out of control, officials said.

Bekasi is a fast growing industrial town, about 30 kilometers
east of Jakarta. The area is rapidly expanding with the
development of new housing complexes and thousands of its
residents go to work in Jakarta every day. (12/pan)