City urged to involve public is busway plan

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An activist and urban transportation experts asked the city administration on Wednesday to involve the public in its endeavor to fix the transportation problems in the capital, now that the controversial busway project had been postponed indefinitely.

"They (the administration) must involve the public by making a consensus on how the transportation woes must be dealt with, including if the administration intends to continue with the busway project," said Azas Tigor Nainggolan of the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta).

No matter what sophisticated system was applied to solve Jakarta's transportation problems, it would be doomed to failure without public support, he said.

As transportation plays a central role in the life of Jakartans, a new transportation system would affect their daily lives, "So, a transportation system like the busway project must not be developed as an independent system...it must be an integral part of the entire urban design." Tigor said.

Meanwhile, Jack Sumabrata, an urban transport researcher at a non-governmental organization (NGO) promoting sustainable development called Pelangi, regretted the administration's failure to coordinate with other city agencies in the implementation of the busway project.

"The poor coordination among the city's various agencies is very obvious. While the agency had already completed designating the busway lane and set up supporting traffic regulations, the trial buses had not even been prepared," Jack said.

Jack also blasted the administration for failing to provide other policies to bolster the implementation of the busway system.

"The implementation of the busway project, hopefully, will change people's habits to using public buses instead of private cars. But, how could this be realized if no proper pedestrian walkways are available?" Jack criticized.

Given the fact that many motorists occupied the special bus lanes, Jack doubted that the special busway lane would be noticed by reckless motorists.

"I'm afraid we will witness another failure of government policy," said Jack.

The busway project, worth Rp 85 billion (US$9.4 million) has been repeatedly postponed, mainly owing to the lack of in-depth study and public dissemination.

The busway, which is expected to serve a 12.9-kilometer route from Blok M in South Jakarta to Kota in West Jakarta, will reportedly include the felling of around 40 trees along the median strips, which are to be the location of bus stops occupying the median strips along the route. Bus passengers will use some 30 pedestrian overpasses along the route to reach the bus stops in the median strips. Each overpass will be modified in the middle with staircases leading down to the bus shelter.

Meanwhile, Djamester Simarmata, an urban transportation expert at the University of Indonesia, said it would be better for the administration to regulate the existing transportation system in the chaotic city rather than building a new system entirely.

"If the administration is willing to be serious in dealing with traffic woes, it must first regulate the chaotic transportation system to be more ordered and well-organized," he said.

Djamester referred in particular to the fact that, in the current chaotic transportation system, big buses and small buses overlap as they ply the same routes.