'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