Busway lane divider baffles and annoys motorists

Busway lane divider baffles and annoys motorists

Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Mulyono was driving his cab at a steady 60 kilometers per hour
near the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta. The
traffic was light that morning as many people had gone to their
hometowns for Idul Fitri.

He stayed on the right side of the road, wanting to go
straight at the crossing ahead. Suddenly he saw a 20 centimeter-
wide and 20 cm-high cement brick divider on the street and
instinctively swung the wheel to the left, worrying that if he
did not, he would have to turn around.

Luckily there was no car coming from behind. Otherwise, a
serious accident would have been unavoidable.

"I once saw a sedan get caught on a busway divider at around 8
p.m.," said Rastia, another taxi driver. There used to be no
signs to warn drivers of its existence, he said. "But eventually
they (the government) put up signs."

Mulyono is not the only motorists to have bumped into the
busway lane dividers. The victims said the road partition is
difficult to differentiate from the road itself, while the signs
were unclear.

When The Jakarta Post observed the busway project on Tuesday,
several workers were painting the divider yellow on Jl. Sudirman
near the Welcome Statue. "We just started painting today," said a
supervisor there.

In a bid to make the partition stand out, the paint used is
iridescent yellow, said Pristono, head of the traffic technical
division at the Jakarta Transportation Agency.

He admitted that there were several minor accidents. However,
it was the fault of motorists as the agency had put up signs,
plastic barriers and orange-white safety cones to warn them since
the beginning of the project, he said.

"Even when there was no separator, people sometimes hit the
fence of Jl. Sudirman," he said.

So far, of the whole route, only small segments have already
been partitioned, including the strips near the Welcome Statue,
near the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle and on Jl. Hayam Wuruk.

Two lines marking the asphalt that needs to be cut for the
separator were seen along Jl. Thamrin. "The separator along the
busway route will be laid by the end of December," Pristono said.

The busway is the Jakarta administration's project aimed at
solving the city's chronic traffic problems. It is planned to
follow a 12.9-km route from Blok M in South Jakarta to Kota in
West Jakarta, passing some of the city's busiest streets like Jl.
Sudirman, Jl. Thamrin, Jl. Gajah Mada and Jl. Hayam Wuruk.

The implementation of the Rp 117 billion (US$13.76 million)
plan has been delayed several times. January 2004 is its latest
completion date.

The road partition is needed to keep motorists from using the
bus lane, which takes up approximately one third of the fast
lanes on Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin.

Some drivers agree that the partition is necessary. They said
that road users could not be expected just to abide by the
regulation.

Mulyono, however, has a different view. "Why can't they just
use traffic wardens to guard the lane like the ones who watch
over the bus lane in Gajah Mada?" he wondered. "That way the
street won't be even more narrowed by the road separator."