'Private vehicles still crowd streets'

'Private vehicles still crowd streets'

The recent fuel price rises have led to increases in the prices
of other services and commodities, which has considerably reduced
people's purchasing power. The Jakarta Post asked residents what
should have been done, by either the government or the people, to
ease their burden.

Syafrudin, 37, is an environmentalist. He works for an
environmental watchdog, the office of which is on Jl. Sudirman,
South Jakarta. He lives in Citayam subdistrict, Depok:

The recent fuel price increases hit urban workers hard because
they have to spend more on transportation.

Before the fuel increases, they had to spend some 15 percent
of their income on transportation. Of course, with the fare
increases it's going to cost them much more. Ideally,
transportation costs should be less than 10 percent of their
income.

I do not see a way out for urban workers. They could use
motorcycles, but we cannot suggest that as an alternative as that
would spark another problem.

As you know, the number of motorcycles on the road is
increasing, worsening traffic problems.

I think, the only way to help urban workers is for the
government to subsidize public transportation.

Suhud, 35, is an activist of a non-governmental organization
for environmental issues, whose office is on Jl. Casablanca,
South Jakarta. He lives in Depok:

It seems that the fuel price increases have not caused a
decrease in the number of private vehicles on the road. Nearly
all streets in the city remain congested.

So long as the government fails to upgrade the
public transportation system, private cars will remain the
favorite choice.

The fuel price increases have also caused public
transportation fares, including those of taxis, to increase.
Therefore, people who usually use taxis are more likely to drive
themselves.

Meanwhile, urban workers with lower salaries have no other
choice but to pay more for public transportation as most of them
change their transportation several times in one trip.

The government could help them by reorganizing the routes of
public transportation so they do not need to change public
transportation so many times.

-- The Jakarta Post