Even-odd traffic policy to start next year

JAKARTA. The Jakarta Transportation Agency said on Friday that the car restriction policy using the even-odd license plate number method has to wait until next year.

“After discussing with the governor [Joko “Jokowi” Widodo], he said it would be better to start the implementation when mass transportation is ready,” agency head Udar Pristono told reporters.

“It will be difficult for the people that want to shift to using mass transportation, if it isn’t available yet,” he added.

The administration is currently expanding its Transjakarta bus fleet and procurement of new buses is expected to be finished by December. 

Udar said that the city currently operates 669 Transjakarta buses for all lines, while another 450 are still in the procurement process.

“As many as 102 new articulated Transjakarta buses are already on the roads. The buses are so comfortable to ride in,” he said.

He pointed out that the even-odd system is the best that the city can implement with its current situation and budget, and hence will not be canceled. He added that it would be more effective than the three-in-one system, which the new method will temporarily replace. The system will be effective from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays.

It will affect roads used by the Transjakarta Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system and a number of other main streets. Under the plan, cars with odd-numbered license plates will be banned on even dates and vice versa. The vehicles will also be marked with stickers, red for odd numbers and green for even numbers.

“Three-in-one used to be a very good system, until people used jockeys to help them fool the authorities,” Udar said. “But with the new method, people will think twice before violating the regulation, because they can also be charged for license plate fraud. That’s a crime.”

The agency is optimistic that the method will reduce the city’s congestion level by 45 percent.

Late last month, the administration also said that the regulation implementation would likely be postponed as it had yet to procure 2.5 million vehicle stickers worth Rp 12.5 billion (US$1.28 million) because of the late approval of the 2013 city budget.

The administration had stated previously that they would need one more month to disseminate the policy, and if approved it would be implemented only at the end of June.

Newly-installed Deputy Jakarta Traffic Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Sambodo Purnomo said that police are currently preparing the supporting database for the even-odd method implementation.

“We prefer to use the electronic law enforcement [ELE] in this,” he said, adding that it will be more comprehensive as well as easier for the police to do.

“Besides, it is modernized. We would not want to hear about foreign dignitaries coming to the city who were confused by seeing hundreds of police officers glaring at license plate numbers, would we?”

Police said they will not rush in the implementation, saying that they will do their best to compile a database of motorists first, which would include bank account details. They said the process needed a further 30 to 40 percent to complete.

The Jakarta Post