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)