Consumer agency holds poll on planned sticker system
Consumer agency holds poll on planned sticker system
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) is
conducting a public poll on the planned traffic sticker system to
find out what people really think, its vice chairman said
yesterday.
Agus Pambagio said the activity was launched Monday through
questionairres and the YLKI's web site and mailing list.
"Each day, we receive about five to 10 objections to the plan
through telephone calls, but we need the real figure to enable us
to have data when we meet the administration (to discuss the
plan).
"We don't want to be accused of 'arranging' facts."
He said the questionnaires were distributed to people whose
places of employment were on Jl. Jend. Sudirman and Jl. M.H.
Thamrin, where the system would be implemented.
Foundation staff members and volunteers were handing out
questionnaires, he said, in an effort to compile results in one
to two weeks.
The proposed system, which the President has endorsed in
principle to replace the three-in-one traffic system, has been
the target of stinging criticism from many quarters since news
about the plan was first mentioned in the media earlier this
year.
Critics argue the plan contradicts a law which bars the
government from charging levies for non-toll roads.
The plan, which will be tried out in August to November,
requires vehicles to bear stickers when entering Jl. M.H. Thamrin
and Jl. Jend. Sudirman from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and from 5
p.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays. Stickers will cost Rp 5,000 (about 40
U.S. cents) for a one-day entry and Rp 80,000 for a month.
It will replace the three-in-one traffic regulation introduced
in 1992 to deal with chronic traffic congestion.
The latter, which requires private cars to carry at least
three people when passing the restricted zones, is considered to
have been largely ineffective in easing traffic congestion.
After being flailed by weeks of criticism over the plan,
Sutiyoso suggested last Wednesday that people should establish a
type of independent body to control the implementation of the
system.
The City Council speaker, Edy Waluyo, announced last Friday
that the council would invite critics of the controversial
traffic sticker system for input before it seals the plan with a
bylaw.
Agus also urged the administration to hold a social impact
analysis of the plan to determine unanticipated ramifications.
"The administration should study more on the system's legal
basis and the possibility of sticker forgeries, or whether there
would be traffic congestion due to the existence of 40 sticker
sales counters along the two streets.
"We can learn from the past that a repercussion of the three-
in-one system -- the operation of 'jockeys' who offer to take a
ride for a fee -- was not predicted," he said.
Meanwhile, the United Development Party faction of the City
Council urged the city administration to postpone the plan.
Head of the faction Achmad Suaidy said Monday that the system
was unsuitable for implementation during the economic crisis.
Suaidy also protested the administration's announcement that
the council had agreed with the system.
"The administration has not officially submitted its proposal
to the council, so how can they say that the council had agreed
with it?" (ind)