As you probably heard yesterday, a new rule will be implemented in December banning motorcycles from traveling along the roads from the Hotel Indonesia Roundabout to Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat in Central Jakarta.
What you might not have heard is that the government is planning to expand the ban to all the major roads in Jakarta.
“Going forward on all of the main streets, such as Kuningan, Jl Gatot Subroto, Jl Sudirman, motorcycles will be prohibited from crossing. But this will depend on the readiness of public transport in the area,” said Jakarta Transportation Agency Head M. Akbar today, as quoted by Detik.
Acting Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama said motorcyclists going to the areas affected by the initial ban would have to park at a building along Sudirman and could then use one of the city’s free double decker buses to get to their ultimate destination. However it has not yet been clarified if additional buses or other public transportation options would be offered to motorcyclists were the ban expanded to other major roads.
Akbar mentioned that the ban was not related to the Electronic Road Pricing System, which is targeted for implementation in late 2015. “This ban is not related to the ERP. It is only coincidence that the ban covers the ERP’s path,” he said.
Akbar said, the basic reason behind the ban was the safety of motorists, as motorcyclists are far more likely to suffer serious injuries in the case of an accident.
“If you fall from a motorcycles there’s no protection, so it’s very dangerous if there’s an accident,” he said.
Source: Detik
