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.