Council wants revival of special bus lanes
Council wants revival of special bus lanes
JAKARTA (JP): Councilors are urging the municipal administration to reintroduce special bus lanes along major thoroughfares to facilitate public transit mobility.
Abdoelhamid Notowidagdo, a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party faction of the City Council, said over the weekend that the reintroduction of the special bus lanes would greatly benefit passengers.
The system is also effective at encouraging people to switch to public transit vehicles rather than using their cars, he said.
The special bus lanes, which are among the fast lanes along main thoroughfares, were applied by the city administration for a prolonged period of time.
The policy was changed in 1993 because the city administration found many disadvantages of the system, such as encouraging pedestrians to cross streets at unauthorized points. The administration also said the policy did not take into consideration the lack of facilities to support its implementation.
Abdoelhamid reiterated that the reintroduction of the special bus lanes is a must. "People do need a fast and reliable public transportation service now," Abdoelhamid was quoted by Antara as saying.
He assured that the fast lane system has proven to be able to transport passengers faster than the slow lane system now in use.
He cited the fact that the capital is currently badly in need of reliable public transportation due to its ever increasing population. The main problem to be faced is how to prepare supporting facilities.
He said that requiring buses to use the slow lanes along Jl. Sudirman, Jl. Thamrin and Jl. Pramuka is ineffective in alleviating traffic problems. The buses are forced to struggle through congestion along with the large number of private cars, especially during rush hours, Abdoelhamid said.
Hasan Dasy, a member of the United Development Party faction, supported Abdoelhamid's idea and said that the special lanes should be set aside exclusively for public transit vehicles. Not a single private car should be allowed to use them, he said.
"There should be firm actions against drivers of private cars which violate the regulation," Hasan said.
Abdoelhamid also expressed concern at the bad attitudes of bus drivers, who recklessly drop off and pick up passengers in the middle of the road long at long distances from bus shelters.
"This daily practice leads to collusion between the drivers and police officers, in which the drivers give bribes to the officers every time they are stopped for violating the regulations," he said.
Dasy agreed with his colleague and called for heavier penalties for drivers found violating regulations.
In a related development, the two councilors urged the public to report any violation by either bus drivers or police officers. "Just don't be afraid to report them to the authorities," Sumari, a member of the Armed Forces faction, said.
The city administration says the increasingly chaotic condition of traffic flow in the city is also caused by an imbalance between road expansion and the increase in the number of vehicles. The expansion of roads in the capital reaches only four percent per year, while the number of vehicles increases by 14 percent annually.
Data from the Central Bureau of Statistics show that in 1991 there were 1.7 million vehicles in the city, consisting of 534,210 private cars, 191,973 busses, 208,851 trucks and 860,056 motorcycles.
Data from the City Public Works Office reveal that in 1992 the length of roads in the city reached only 5,443 kilometers. (yns)