Public bus ordeal is here to stay despite busway

It was Sunday afternoon. I was driving in the fast lane in front of Atmajaya University. That is, if you could call it fast. I could not help but notice there was heavy congestion in the Jalur Lambat (slow lane). Later, I saw that it was caused by several buses stopping in the middle of the road to pick up passengers while the road ahead of them was totally empty.

Well, nothing unusual about it, although right under the nearby Semanggi cloverleaf, several policemen were casually sitting on their motorcycles, waiting for unsuspecting motorcyclists who were stupid enough to push their luck by entering the no-motorcycles zone. Nothing unusual either. Hey, it's not like I am trying to deny those police officers several compromised thousands of rupiah, but is it not supposedly the police's duty to maintain law and order on the streets?

Those buses are really a nuisance. They should be replaced with new, shining ones with a good exhaust system to reduce air pollution. God knows how much carbon monoxide and all the other things we inhale every second.

I bet 90 percent of those poisonous gasses and substances come from public transportation vehicles. Come on, be honest. You must have noticed how the air feels cleaner and the sky bluer during Idul Fitri holidays, when there are virtually no buses around.

Of course, I appreciate the effort of our governor, His Excellency Sutiyoso, who has allocated Rp 65 billion to upgrade the city transportation system from Blok M to Kota. The funds went partly towards painting the right lane red and hanging BUSWAY signs over it while Indonesians, to this day, drive on the "wrong side of the street". It must be Sutiyoso's way to teach his people how to drive properly.

The rest of the money will be used to build new bus stops. I can't help but wonder where he is going to build the stops, and how in God's name we are supposed to cross the street to get to them? Oh yeah, I forgot, the pedestrian bridge. Stupid me. Of course, we, Indonesians, so looovveeee to climb stairs to get to the bus stop, even when we can just stroll along, hand in hand, across the street. After all, cars would stop in the name of pedestrians, otherwise, if we get run over jaywalking, the cars and their passengers would be burned to death.

Last but not least, money has also been set aside to buy some new buses. There you go, Sutiyoso. Finally something useful, although one would quietly ask whether it would not have been better to use all the money to buy new buses. I am sure that Rp 65 billion would be enough to buy at least 100 new buses.

Be sure to allocate some of the money to educate bus drivers on traffic regulations. No, on second thought, make that two classes, one for the bus drivers and the other for the traffic policemen.

Throw in several of those fancy hidden cameras to take pictures of traffic violators. We could even take pictures of the policemen who love to hide behind trees, between bushes and under bridges, waiting for motorists to break the law rather than prevent them from doing it. How about finishing the halted bridge construction on Jalan Gatot Subroto?

Here is a good one: End the ineffective three-in-one policy, at least as long as the street jockeys are still in the business. In fact, anything else would be better than just painting and hanging signs.

I have a dream that one day Jakartans will be able to breathe fresh, clean air. I have a dream that one day the traffic will be in order, no buses to compete with and no cops to jump on me ... or is it only a dream?

-- M. Harin