One-way route system is a fast lane to congestion

JAKARTA (JP): An expert yesterday called on the municipal administration to review its policy on one-way route system, implemented on several roads in the city, as it has aggravated traffic congestion instead of alleviating it.

"The one-way traffic system is not a panacea for Jakarta's traffic," said Hasan Basri, a lecturer at the Jakarta-based Trisakti Traffic Management Academy.

Last October, the city administration has implemented the one- way traffic system on at least 100 roads across the city.

"On several roads, the system has worsened the traffic congestions," said Basri, who is also a ranking official at the research and development board of the Ministry of Transportation.

To illustrate the case of how the one way system causes problems, Basri used the intersection of Jl. Ciputat Raya, Jl. Pasar Jumat and Jl. Cinere Lebak Bulus, all in South Jakarta, as an example.

When two-way route system was in effect on the three streets, traffic tie-up's occurred only in front of the Lebak Bulus bus terminal on Jl. Pasar Jumat, "Because many buses go in and out of the terminal," Basri noted.

After the implementation of one-way route system, the flow of vehicles from the three streets met at a junction, creating serious traffic congestion there for most of the day.

"It is true that congestion at the Lebak Bulus terminal lessened, but it didn't solve the problems as it created traffic jams at the junction and along Jl. Ciputat Raya," Basri added.

According to Basri, the officials of the Jakarta Office of the Transportation Ministry failed to anticipate the consequences of changing the route system.

The officials did not anticipate, for example, that after one- way system applied, the commuters preferred to wait for the buses at the junction than fetching them at the terminal. As a result, the buses often spent long time there to pick them up, blocking the way for other vehicles going through the junction.

"Now I spend more time commuting," said Basri.

According to Basri, one-way traffic policy is appropriate in a block-type city as in Western countries but not in a capital like Jakarta whose streets were developed in an irregular pattern.

So far, a great number of people have voiced their concerns through media over the ineffectiveness of the one-way system on several roads. (09)