Minister supports traffic sticker plan
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Communications Giri Suseno Hadihardjono said yesterday the city administration should use the funds to be raised from the implementation of its traffic sticker system to improve public transportation.
"That's the purpose of any road pricing," Giri told a media conference.
"The city administration must be committed to using the funds raised from the implementation of the system to improve its public transportation facilities," he said.
He noted that the central government was currently using most of its resources to overcome the economic crisis and that it lacked funds to help the city improve its public transportation.
Governor Sutiyoso, meanwhile, urged people yesterday to establish a kind of independent body to control the implementation of the sticker system, if they doubted it.
The body could control activities, ranging from its implementation to the use of the collected funds for the sticker sales.
"If the problem is about trust, everybody can make corrections or monitor that the funds from the ticket sales are really channeled to improve public transportation.
"I have repeatedly promised that the system is merely aimed at improving public transportation and I have many times promised you that there will be transparency (in the management)," he told a separate media conference which was closed without reporters being allowed to ask any questions.
The sticker plan requires people wanting to travel along 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. to buy stickers at Rp 5,000 (40 U.S. cents) for a one-day entry and Rp 80,000 monthly.
The system, which will go on trial from August to November, will replace the three-in-one traffic regulation introduced in 1992 to tackle the capital's chronic traffic congestion. The latter system requires private vehicles to carry at least three people when entering the restricted area from 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m..
The three-in-one system is considered to have been largely ineffective in easing traffic congestion.
Under the sticker system motorists will be required to display valid stickers on their windshields if they wish to enter the restricted zone.
Sutiyoso stressed yesterday that the tariffs of Rp 5,000 for a one-day entry and Rp 80,000 monthly were not final as was reported earlier. The system is still being proposed to the City Council, he said.
Council speaker Edy Waluyo echoed Sutiyoso's remarks, saying: "We haven't yet decided anything. During the (Monday) meeting with officials of the city administration, we just listened to explanations on the plan. We will discuss it later to form a city bylaw".
Deputy Governor for Administrative Affairs Abdul Kahfi told reporters Monday that the city council agreed with the tariff levels.
Commenting on a suggestion to set a cheaper tariff of about Rp 500 or Rp 1,000, Sutiyoso strongly rejected the idea. "I don't agree with the proposal. That's so cheap it's like buying fried bananas. All people will buy stickers, then the traffic congestion will still be there."
Sutiyoso also said yesterday that before deciding to adopt the system the administration had made comparative studies with other countries and invited experts on transportation from Japan, Singapore, Australia and the U.S. to give their views on the matter.
"We then conclude that the sticker system is the most proper one. However I regret current media reports which tend to create a bad image and exploit the system's negative side. Of course any system has a good and bad side.
"I should stress again here that the target of the system is wealthier people whose money through the purchase of the tickets will subsidize poor people.
"I am not willing to ask the poor people to pay, even as much as Rp 100. I am just asking them not to enter the restricted areas during the restricted times," he said. (ind/jsk)