Reluctance to use crossings seen as hitch in busway system
Reluctance to use crossings seen as hitch in busway system
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The busway project will use both footbridges and zebra
crossings to provide access to bus stops for passengers, but many
doubt their effectiveness and fear it is doomed to failure as
many people are reluctant to use such facilities on other roads.
Their reluctance is apparently based on issues of comfort and
security, as well as the absence of sanctions for jaywalking.
"We will use both footbridges as well as zebra crossings to
enable bus passengers to access bus stops," said head of the city
transportation agency's development program, D. A. Rini, who is
also a member of the busway team of experts.
The administration will modify some of the existing pedestrian
bridges to descend onto the median strips along which the bus
stops will be constructed, Rini said.
However, some zebra crossings connecting bus stops in the
right lane to the pavement in the left lane, would also be made
to enable the disabled to access the bus stops, Rini added.
The bus stops are to be made on an elevated platform, 105
centimeters higher than ground level.
However, people's reluctance to use existing footbridges and
zebra crossings seems to be a major hurdle for the busway
project.
"I am reluctant (to use the footbridges). It's too far," said
one of several pedestrians who had just crossed Jl. M.H. Thamrin
in Central Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon.
He claimed he was not concerned about his safety. "Unless the
traffic is heavy, I will just cross the road."
There are only two footbridges available along the one-
kilometer long Jl. M.H. Thamrin, while along Jl. Medan Merdeka
Barat, there are three zebra crossings with an average of 300
meters between each crossing.
Many people, however, were seen crossing the road and ignoring
the traffic instead of using either the zebra crossings or
footbridges. A police officer standing at the scene just looked
on without paying attention to the jaywalkers.
Similarly, Sutoyo, 30, a resident of Kota, West Jakarta
explained that he chose not to use footbridges as he was afraid
for his safety.
"Thugs try to extort money from people on many pedestrian
bridges. They can do so unseen as those bridges are completely
covered by big advertising boards," Sutoyo said.
The new bus system, which will cost Rp 90.5 billion (US$10
million), will use 60 air-conditioned buses, each with a capacity
of 54 seats. Those buses will ply a 12.9 kilometer route from
Blok M, in South Jakarta to Kota, West Jakarta, through Jl.
Thamrin and Jl. Sudirman, with a headway of two minutes to six
minutes.
The project which initially was expected to be launched by the
end of last year, had been postponed mainly owing to poor
planning.
The Jakarta Transportation Agency did not name a date for the
launch, but Governor Sutiyoso hinted that his administration
would have it running by the middle of this year. Two buses will
be on trial next month, but they will not carry passengers.
Rini said that technical team for busway project of the city
administration will attend a week-long training in Bogota,
Columbia as part of the preparation to implement busway project.
"Bogota has been successful in implementing the busway
project. We want to learn how they solve technical problems to
ensure the busway system running smoothly," Rini told The Jakarta
Post on Tuesday.
The busway project is controversial as there has been some
significant changes in the project's original planning, including
the ballooning budget, which shot up from Rp 54 billion to 90.5
billion.
Many experts were skeptical that the project, aimed at easing
Jakarta's notorious traffic congestion, would be successful.
The administration, for instance, has not provided secure
parking lots at either end of the busway routes in Blok M and
Kota so that motorists would be encouraged to leave their cars
and continue their journey by bus.
The administration's plan to use the existing parking lots in
Blok M will burden the already full to capacity parking lots
belonging to offices and shops in the vicinity.
To date, after repeated delays, the administration has only
managed to construct two bus stops on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat,
Central Jakarta, from a planned 30 bus stops in each lane;
painted red dotted lines to indicate the bus lanes from Blok M to
Harmoni; and posted some signs.