Busway

Busway


Once my father's business friend came and stayed over at our house. He is a very intelligent and critical man. After dinner, we talked about many issues that happened in Indonesia, particularly Jakarta. One of the topic was on the chaotic traffic at Jakarta. After several hours of interesting conversation, I realized that we all came to one voice; Jakarta's traffic is a huge mess and a responsive solution from the local government should be done quickly.

A couple months later, Jakarta's mayor, Sutiyoso, relish the potential solution to Jakarta's traffic chaos. Not long after that, many red lanes and white aluminum bus stations are built around streets of Jakarta. It was the first official mass transportation in that metropolitan city besides all the unofficial ones such as angkot, bajaj, and metromini. TransJakarta is meant to replace all those other alternative mass transportation as they tend to go against the traffic rule, taking a whole lane just to wait for a passenger to hop in, and added to traffic congestion. Busway, another name for TransJakarta, has grown more and more popular because they have better cared buses, affordable fares, traffic free lanes, and most of all it potentially reduces the demand for alternative transportations and have potential to reduce traffic congestion.

As time goes by, busway's demand has increased dramatically, but it doesn't reduce traffic jam as it is meant to do. Many places in Jakarta, such as Roxy and Grogol still has a lot of cars stuck in traffic even though there are TransJakarta stations nearby. Worse than that, local officials forced their way for Busway in unnescessary places such as Pluit and Pondok Indah recently. Citizens have protested because they don't need the busway as they all can afford cars. Additionally, places like Pluit and Kelapa Gading have barely enough roads for cars to pass in its own complex, by intergrating busway in these places, the lanes are reduced a lot and it causes more traffic jam.

Despite its boasting potential of helping Jakarta's traffic, I think that TransJakarta has not work as it is meant to work. Though not reaching its maximum benefit, local government should not force their system in places where it is not needed just to make more money.

James A2 HL English