MRT - public transportation system, Jakarta Style! :(

[kingwilly]

Most Asian countries these days have some sort of Mass Transportation system, Hong Kong the very efficient subway, Shanghai - the excellent monorail, Bangkok - the MRT subway and the BTS overhead railway...

Jakarta has long had a traffic problem, so the Indonesian solution.......

Busway!

What is a busway i hear you ask?? Well subways and monorails etc are too expensive for Indonesia so we get the busway.

Yes, yes, yes, but what is it?

Well, you cut a major arterial road in half, place some bluestone blocks in the way to keep cars out of it, and then run ordinary 'special' buses along this 'dedicated busway lane'. Mind you at crossroads and the start and end of each busway the said busses still have to fight with the traffic, oh yes and funding to actually provided buses to travel these routes is somewhat limited. But never mind, Sutiyuso, previous major/governer of jakarta allegedly made US$ 8,000,000 in bribes and kickbacks per busway line he signed off on, hence the possible reason he signed off on as many as possible before his term of office expired.

And what do you think the result of cutting roads in half is.....? Yep, worse traffic.

Here's some pics of the magnificent busway being built......

I didnt mean to capture a pic of the worker sleeping, but its perhaps rather appropriate of the Indonesian work ethic....

and almost complete busway in Pondok Indah area.... nice innit?

oh sorry didnt realise, the raised concrete thingy next to my (stationary car) is the busway lane!

[BigRed]

We have done bus lanes in the UK with similar problems at junctions. We don't put physical barriers up of course, they generate a lot of revenue fining people for using them when they shouldn't. It also means they are available for normal traffic off-peak when you don't need them anyway.

[gonelive]

Bangkok is soon getting its Bus Rapid Transit system

[Butterfly]

The stupid bitch Mayor of Paris followed a smilar move after he saw those huge bus lanes in London,

End results ? more traffic (more pollution) and an empty bus lanes 90% of the time

Everyone is bitching about this. His job is gone next year. Fucking idiot, we had no traffic problem in Paris for 15 years and that guy with no better thing to do, introduced a huge traffic fuckup.

[kingwilly]

actually, those pics were taken in Pondok Indah, which is an area of a lot of new money, palatial OTT mansions etc, locals call them Rumah Pembantu, which translates as the maids house, cos most of these people are never there anyway, just the house staff.

Anyway - these people protested the most out of everyone against the busway being built in their area, so last week some important person sat down and negotiated with them, end result, cars can use the busway line in Pondok Indah during peak hours......

Leaving the rest of us confused as to the spending of the money to put in this lane in the first place....

[exiledgooner]

you want logic?

the biggest pain in the butt is getting from satu lagi down to de hooi...nightmare

[kingwilly]

no problem, i dont live that far from Kristal hotel

[exiledgooner]

lucky bugger

good feed in satu lagi...

[kingwilly]

muppets again, this time they reopened an old line in the city centre, but forgot to tell anyone, so first day they sold 12 tickets.

Govt launches new train to reduce Jakarta traffic JAKARTA (JP): The government launched a new train Friday as part of efforts to reduce traffic jams in the capital city.
The new train, named the Ciliwung Blue Line, travels from Manggarai to Sudirman, Karet, Tanah Abang, Duri, Angke, Kampung Bandang, Kemayoran, Pasar Senen, Kramat, Jatinegara and back.
The train fare is a flat rate of only Rp 3,500 (38 U.S. cents) during the promotional period before being set at a normal price of Rp 5,000.
"This is an idea Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo proposed to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in a recent meeting to reduce heavy traffic jams in the city," City Secretary Ritola Tasmaya said after leading the train's official opening.
Existing trains have only served routes from Jakarta to neighboring cities like Bogor, Tangerang and provincial cities such as Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya and Yogyakarta

[kingwilly]

hmmm, exploding busses, it is not looking good!

Busway fire puts heat on operator
Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo has ordered an investigation into the fire that destroyed a compressed natural gas-powered TransJakarta bus on Friday.
"I asked the city police chief to thoroughly investigate the cause of the incident," the governor said at City Hall.
According to the Jakarta Police's Traffic Management Center, the bus caught fire around 8:30 a.m. near the Tugu Tani (Farmer's Monument) in Central Jakarta.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
Officials initially said the fire started because of a short circuit in the bus engine.
The bus, owned by PT Trans Batavia, was traveling on Corridor 2 of the busway system from Harmoni in Central Jakarta to Pulo Gadung in East Jakarta, while carrying dozens of passengers.
Trans Batavia provides 55 buses fueled by compressed natural gas (CNG) to serve the corridor.
Passengers later reported smelling gas inside the bus in Harmoni, Detik.com reported.
They said the odor disappeared, but returned when they arrived at the traffic lights near the monument, where the fire started.
Quoting the police's preliminary investigation, Fauzi said the fire was likely started by a short circuit in the bus' dashboard, "not a CNG leak as previously alleged".
"So, I call on residents to ignore this. They should not panic over the incident," he said.
Busway operator TransJakarta's head of operations, Rene Nunumete, also said a short circuit was the cause of the blaze.
Fauzi said he ordered TransJakarta and the city transportation agency to perform safety checks on all the busway vehicles.
"I want them to obtain a certificate for each of the busway buses that guarantees the buses are safe and roadworthy."
He said TransJakarta and the transportation agency would have to cooperate with a surveyor agency, like state-owned PT Sucofindo, to obtain the certificates.
"In the meantime, the busway will remain operational to maintain public services," he said.
A similar incident occurred last May, involving a CNG-fueled TransJakarta bus being repaired at a busway pool in Pulo Gadung. That incident left four people with serious injuries.
Nurmansjah Lubis, the secretary of City Council Commission B for economic affairs, blamed the poor management of TransJakarta for the fire.
"This incident proves that TransJakarta is careless when it comes to safety. It does not carry out maximum supervision," he said.
"TransJakarta could have avoided this incident if it carried out periodic safety checks," he said.

[kingwilly]

to be finished by 2014! Great!

City to have more elevated roads as of next year

Mustaqim Adamrah , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 03/12/2008 11:55 AM | City
Governor Fauzi Bowo said Tuesday the capital would start a Rp 40 trillion (US$4.2 billion) project constructing elevated roads across all municipalities in Jakarta next year. Six toll roads are included in the project.
"We must understand that horizontal road expansion is no longer a favorable solution in easing traffic jams," he said at City Hall.
"Therefore, we have no other choice except to build more elevated roads."
He said elevated toll roads were also part of a plan to generate revenue for the city.
"We could use more revenue from toll roads to fund the development of other roads, as well as the development of an MRT, the monorail and the busway," said Fauzi.
The MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) is a rail system Jakarta has been planning since 1984. Plans to begin construction this year have again been delayed until 2010.
He said, however, more research was required to measure the impacts of the construction, such as congestion.
"Both the central government and the city administration agree road expansion on ground level will not solve transportation issues in the city," he said.
"But we can think of another way to solve traffic problems. We have to carefully decide the locations of the toll road exits and entrances in the design."
Wrong locations of toll road exits and entrances, Fauzi said, would create worse traffic jams.
He also said the money needed to fund the elevated roads project would come from the administration, the capital market, the money market and loan syndicates.
Fauzi said the city would start the toll road construction in North Jakarta because MRT construction was planned for the same time in the south.
The Rp 8.3 trillion ($913 million) MRT project will stretch 14.3 kilometers from Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta, to Dukuh Atas, Central Jakarta and is expected to be finished in 2014.
In addition, Fauzi said the design would also calculate increased air pollution resulting from road expansions that consequently encourage more people to use vehicles.
The six planned toll roads

1. Rawa Buaya, West Jakarta - Sunter, North Jakarta 18.6 km
2. Kemayoran, Central Jakarta - Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta 9.7 km
3. Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta - Casablanca, South Jakarta 9 km
4. Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta - Tomang, West Jakarta 12 km
5. Sunter, North Jakarta - Pulo Gebang, East Jakarta 12.5 km
6. Ulujami, South Jakarta - Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta 8.6 km

[kingwilly]

here's a pic of one of the buses, (the operator and the governement are still arguing about the price, so we have something like 17 out of 112 operating.... )

notice the yellow brick dividers to separate the lane and the building in the background is the waiting stop/shelter.