Busway not to relieve congestion?

Busway not to relieve congestion?

From Warta Kota

Officials from the Jakarta provincial administration, including Governor Sutiyoso, have reiterated that in the first place, the busway project is not aimed at relieving traffic congestion. As a citizen frequently trapped in traffic jams, I wonder what the project is actually intended to do.

Is it only for the purpose of making Jakarta look stylish, so that its leader will in the future be remembered as the initiator of this facility? This question is relevant because the congestion of Jakarta's roads has remained unsolved for years.

The 3-in-1 (three passengers in a car) requirement for certain roads, the building of flyovers and underpasses have entailed new problems instead of reducing the traffic jams. Meanwhile, the busway system will continue despite warnings of its consequences.

The Jakarta provincial leadership is today characterized by its top-down policy making without heeding public opinion and criticism. To the people of Jakarta in general, the busway project should serve as one way of penetrating the city's road bottlenecks, otherwise it would be a strange undertaking.

ZULKIFLI HASSAN Jakarta