With Jakarta sinking further and further into a sea of endless rush hour traffic each day, government officials hope the new odd-even rule, which will begin a one-month testing period this Wednesday, will help relieve some of the macet.
But what everybody is really pinning will solve Jakarta’s traffic woes are two longer term solutions – the mass rapid transit system (MRT) and an electronic road pricing system (ERP).
But the MRT won’t be up and running until at least 2019, and the ERP seemed to be stuck in a macet made of bureaucratic and logistical problems.
However, today represents an important step towards turning the ERP into reality, as Governor Ahok has now signed into law the governor’s order (pergub) needed for the government to legally move forward on the official construction on the traffic control system.
One of the things the newly signed pergub allows is for the government to being the tender process on who will be building the ERP, and Ahok wants to get started right away.
“The tender should be held this week. Hopefully tomorrow or the day after we will be able to hold the tender,” Ahok said at City Hall today as quoted by Tribunnews. He added that he hoped that the project might be up and running in the next six months.
Two operators are currently holding ERP trials, one on Jl Rasuna Said and one on Jl Sudirman, but there are 12 companies who have asked to participate in the tender process. Ahok has made it very clear that he wants Jakarta’s ERP built to the same specifications as used in other countries like Singapore.
The ERP would automatically charge cars’ tariffs for entering certain roads during rush hour. One of the main logistical problems in implementing the system would be affixing electronic sensors to all cars so that they could be automatically charged when passing through ERP gates.
