Jakarta, Jan 9 (Antara) - The Jakarta government has banned its
employees from using private and official vehicles, requesting them to
switch to public transportation and encouraging the public to emulate
them so that the traffic congestion can be eased.
Jakarta is one of the cities with the worst traffic jams in the world
and has launched several programs to overcome its traffic woes.
The problem persists despite the Jakarta regional government launching a
three-in-one policy in 1994, a car-free day measure in 2002, and a
Busway system in 2004.
Recently, the programs include the construction of the monorail transportation system and a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT).
However, the work on these programs is still on-going. The regional
government expects that by the year 2030, Jakarta will be able to
completely overcome its daily traffic jam problems.
When Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, was elected as the Jakarta
governor in September 2012, he laid out three steps to resolve the
city's traffic congestion.
The first was to build a traffic safety culture by improving the
behavior of motorists. The second was the construction of adequate mass
transportation systems, and the third was the implementation of policies
that support his programs.
While the regional government awaits the completion of various
transport infrastructure projects in Jakarta, it is taking a crash
course to help resolve the traffic congestion.
It has banned
its government employees from using private and official vehicles,
urging them to switch to public transportation. It is also procuring
about four thousand buses to improve the means of public transport in
the capital city.
"The ban is intended to make employees accustomed to using public
transportation and encourage the public to forego the use of private
vehicles by switching to public transportation," Jakarta Deputy Governor
Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, better known as Ahok, remarked on Friday last
week.
The Jakarta regional government's new policy is contained in the
Gubernatorial Instruction Number 150/2013 on the use of public
transportation by civil servants and city officials of the Jakarta
regional government.
The instruction for the Jakarta regional government employees to
abandon private vehicles was signed by Joko Widodo on December 30, 2013,
and has become effective since January 3, 2014.
Basuki emphasized that the step was an effective strategy to encourage
people to use public transportation while the delivery of the newly
procured public transportation vehicles is awaited.
"We cannot say with certainty whether this step will be effective in
reducing the use of private vehicles, as it is still too early to
judge," Basuki noted.
In order to support the public transportation program, the local
government is procuring four thousand additional buses.
According to Jokowi, the procurement of four thousand vehicles for
public transportation is expected to help ease the traffic jam issues in
the capital city.
"We want to overcome the traffic congestion problem. We have faced
traffic jams for several decades. We have applied a Busway system since
the past eight years. So far, only about 10 to 20 vehicles are procured
every year. This issue can be resolved by buying four thousand
vehicles," stated Joko Widodo at the City Hall on Wednesday.
Jokowi claimed that the procurement of four thousand vehicles for
public transportation will comprise three thousand medium-sized buses
and one thousand buses for the Transjakarta Busway.
"A total of three thousand medium-sized buses and one thousand other
buses for the Transjakarta Busway will solve the problem we are facing.
We need to focus on the issue in order to resolve it," he added.
According to data revealed by the Indonesian Transportation Community
(MTI) organization, a couple of years ago, the state of public transport
in Jakarta was inadequate and approximately 72.34 percent of the 22
thousand buses operating in the city were already old and no longer fit
for operations.
With a population of about 12 million, Jakarta experiences massive
traffic jams on a daily basis. Inadequate public transportation forces
the residents to use their private cars or motorcycles. According to the
Jakarta Regional Police, there are about 3.1 million private cars and
8.2 million motorcycles in the city.
Data received from the
Jakarta Transportation Service revealed that in 2002, about 61 percent
of Jakarta's commuters still used public transport, but the figure
dropped to 20 percent by 2010.
This clearly indicates that the number of buses should be increased.
According to the MTI, Jakarta requires some 20 to 30 thousand additional
buses and a funding of Rp30 trillion to meet its requirements.
Therefore, Jokowi's agenda to procure four thousand new buses is not an
overstatement and should be focused and measurable.
Jokowi clarified that the regional Jakarta government's program should
be focused and measurable with the right target and direction, so that
people can eventually benefit from the program.
"I can just purchase ten or twenty buses, like it has been done in the
past. But, will that produce the required result? Also, every year
around 10 and 20 buses are damaged," he explained.
The governor apparently made the remarks in response to a criticism made about his new policy.
Taufik
Azhar, a member of Jakarta Legislative Assembly (DPRD)'s Commission B
on transportation, had earlier condemned the Jakarta regional
government's policy with regard to the procurement plan to purchase four
thousand buses for public transportation and labeled it a hasty policy.
"The
procurement of such buses should be ideally carried out in stages, not
all at once. For instance, 200 buses in sixth months and so on," he
explained.
Yet, the regional government is determined to go ahead with the
program. After all, the city employees have been banned from using
private and official vehicles. This can hamper the activities of the
civil servants at office if public transportation buses are not in
adequate numbers.
"We are keen to see the civil servants at the Jakarta regional
government adhere to the instruction. We still have to evaluate the
implementation of the policy with regard to sanctions, as admittedly,
the means of public transportation in Jakarta are inadequate," Basuki
emphasized.
The governor's instruction necessitates all officials and employees to
use public transportation whenever they go to office. They are not
allowed to use private vehicles, two or four-wheeled private vehicles,
which includes official vehicles.
All the programs are basically intended to support other steps in
curtailing the recurrent traffic jams in Jakarta, which is expected to
resolve by 2030.
The regional government has set a target to make Jakarta a traffic congestion-free city by 2030.
"Our target is to free Jakarta from traffic woes by 2030, through the
development and implementation of several mass transportation
infrastructure projects," Gamal Sinurat, the head of Jakarta's Spatial
Master Plan Service, recently stated.
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(T.A014/INE/S012)
EDITED BY INE
(T.A014/A/BESSR/Suharto) 09-01-2014 |
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