Busway, not the dream come true

"You are late for class," my English teacher said, "Sorry, Miss. There is a lot of traffic on the way to school lately."

This has most definitely become a regular excuse for many of the people residing in Jakarta. Jakarta is under constant construction to extend the busway service in the city. Unfortunately, the infant stage of this mode of public transportation has brought with it some unpleasant effects.

Many of us are well versed with the traffic problems in Jakarta. Sitting in long lines of traffic for hours on end, whiling away valuable time, missing appointments, being late for meetings and classes, are just a few of the effects of this infectious disease.

With this in mind city officials came up with the busway as a remedy. But its construction has only aided in the spread of the disease.

Construction of busway corridors means taking up at least two lanes of road, one for the busway itself and the other for the construction equipment. Narrowing a three-lane road to only a single lane can cause serious problems. Heavy rush hour traffic only worsens the problem. Cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles all try to squeeze into this bottleneck, ultimately causing a jam that takes at least half an hour to clear.

Once completed, a busway corridor will take up an entire lane of a road, not only increasing problems for vehicles wanting to make a U-turn, but also reducing the road space for other vehicles.

The fraction of traffic reduced by the busway is far less than the traffic it creates. Another effect of the busway is the cutting down of trees. The median strip in the Cempaka Putih area used to be lush with trees, but since it was decided a busway corridor would occupy this space, the trees have been hacked away. This makes the district look like an even bigger concrete jungle.

In my opinion, the government should work toward perfecting the busway dream to cure the traffic disease. By increasing awareness as to how the busway can be used, as well as by making it secure and reliable, it may become a feasible transportation alternative for many people.

Right now a very small percentage of the people use the busway, so the number of cars on the roads has not been reduced, thereby in no way helping the traffic problem. I myself have never taken the busway and I know of few friends who have! By increasing public awareness of the system and by ensuring people know it is reliable and easy to use, the number of passengers will increase. This would not only increase revenue, but also help fight the traffic disease.

Another means of making the system more efficient would be to remove any other forms of public transportation functioning along the busway corridors. Bajaj, buses and motorcycle taxis take up the remaining road space, in effect increasing the traffic problem.

SHAUNAK MAZUMDER Jakarta