'Monorail preferable to busway'

'Monorail preferable to busway'

The Jakarta administration hopes to begin construction on a
monorail and new busway routes later this year. The proposed
monorail project would include the construction of a 20-story
apartment block, a five-story shopping mall and several parks
above the West Flood Canal in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta. The
Jakarta Post asked residents for their thoughts on the plan.

Joice Adelina Situmorang, 24, is an accountant with a private
construction consultancy on Jl. Guntur in South Jakarta. She
lives with her family in Tebet, South Jakarta:

I never take the busway, but I have experienced the traffic
congestion that it has caused. The busway has created more
traffic problems rather than solving them.

I prefer a monorail as a means of public transportation rather
than the busway. A monorail does not disturb existing roads since
it uses elevated rails.

I see that more Jakarta residents prefer to take trains rather
than buses, despite the fact that most of the trains are in poor
condition and overcrowded. Trains are relatively more reliable
than buses in terms of arrival and departure times because of the
city's chronic traffic jams.

Yusuf Suharyono, 30, is a volunteer at a non-governmental
organization in Kramat, Central Jakarta. He lives with friends in
a rental house close to his office:

I do not think the busway is a solution for the city's traffic
problems. I wonder whether the Jakarta administration conducted
an in-depth study, or at least a survey, to learn how many people
would use the busway before proceeding with the project.

I doubt that this happened because the administration never
talks publicly about the condition of the city's transportation
system.

I would prefer the city to have a means of transportation that
could cater to massive numbers of commuters, like a subway. I
think it would be more helpful, though it would be costly.

--The Jakarta Post