Public expects better transportation
Public expects better transportation
JAKARTA (JP): Will it be a subway or a monorail? This is what the city administration is trying to answer in order to solve the public transportation problem.
The transportation system must not only be comfortable, punctual, safe and convenient, but also affordable.
The Jakarta Post interviewed a number of people to find out what the public expects from the city administration.
Tina Abidin (not her real name), a graduate student in Ithaca, New York State, the United States: Can you imagine what it would be like if we had a monorail? Jakarta's skies are already messed up with electricity lines, skyscrapers and highways -- but no trees. It gives me a headache. A subway would be better, only the security and electricity needs special attention. In New York I'm afraid to ride the subway by myself even during the day, while in Ithaca it's safe until late at night.
Edowati Sudjono, director of Inti Pratama Mangara public relations: I can't really imagine either system here. Indonesians' lack of discipline, our habits and security would make it horrible. People couldn't go on being stowaways anymore, and we might have more homeless people inhabiting the subways. I reckon I wouldn't dare go on a subway in Jakarta pass 9 p.m. In London, the subway was okay, but then I was only on a short vacation.
Hoemar Tjokrodiatmo, architect and director of PT Hoemar Tjokrodiatmo: If Tokyo and Paris decided aeromovels were better they would have had them by now, wouldn't they? With subways there is more to do -- we would have to sort out our drainage system first. But the system is essential to a metropolis. We just need to educate ourselves into being cleaner.
I think aeromovels would not only block our view, they would also be a health hazard with the electromagnetic waves issued by the moving vehicle, which are absorbed underground in the case of subways. Geobiology experts say exposure to such waves can cause cancer.
Nearby buildings wouldn't be able to sustain the noise and tremor. Aeromovels would best serve areas with more empty space, there's something like that over the tulip gardens of Keukenhoff in Holland. Here the vehicles could be used in the outer areas of the city or from one city to another.
Dr. Bianpoen, a noted architect and now an urban planner at the University of Indonesia.
Commenting on the city administration's plan to operate either light trains, aeromovels or subways, Dr. Bianpoen said that Jakarta lags far behind other big cities in the world in terms of transportation.
Theoretically, every city with a population of 2 million must have a mass transit system. Jakarta houses more than 9 million people but has just started thinking about a transit system.
A proposal for a system was included in the l965-l985 city master plan but the government didn't act on it.
"I was surprised when I read the news that private investors have already submitted their proposals for the mass transit system," said Bianpoen, former head of Jakarta's Center for Urban and Environmental Research and Development.
The city administration should be more open with its plan, Bianpoen suggested.
State toll road company, PT Jasa Marga, cooperated with PT Citra Marga Nusaphala Persada, a private construction firm owned by the eldest daughter of the President, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, to propose building light trains, aeromovels, or a Rp 2 trillion- triple-decker highway. They want to provide the public with a convenient transportation system to curb city traffic jams.
Several foreign companies have also submitted proposals to build a subway. The proposals are being jointly handled by the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Public Works, the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology and the National Development Planning Board.
Bianpoen said it is most important that all proposals be studied thoroughly.
To construct a subway, for instance, the contours and the conditions in the city must be considered. Seventy percent of the city is prone to flooding, therefore, it would be very costly and very hard to build a subway. However, if the government has the money, the subway may provide a better option than other systems.
Light trains like the monorail, on the other hand, are not an appropriate system, said Bianpoen, who obtained a Ph.D in urban management from Erasmus University in Rotterdam.
"The aeromovel is only suitable for short-distance trips, like at recreational parks," he explained.
The system should be a non-oil means that can carry at least 40,000 passengers to one destination per hour. It must be environmentally friendly.(anr/raw)