After a one month trial period that the city government declared a great success, the motorcycle ban along Jalan Thamrin is now in full effect, with Rp. 500,000 tickets being handed out to irate motorcyclists (while others run away).
But has the motorcycle ban actually been successful at its main goal of reducing traffic along one of Jakarta’s main streets?
The Jakarta Police said that, during the motorcycle ban’s trial period, they saw a 30% reduction in traffic congestion along Thamrin.
However, now officials cannot seem to explain what indicators they used to measure that reduction
When asked about it by Kompas on Monday, the head of the Jakarta Transportation Agency, Benjamin Bukit said, “Indeed, there has really been a reduction in congestion. But I do not want to answer specific questions about the evaluation. [Overall] the evaluation is good.”
The deputy head of the Transportation Agency, Pargaulan Butar-Butar, also couldn’t answer how the ban was reducing traffic.
“I have only been in office for one month. The data seems to exist in the field of operations,” Pargaulan said.
In fact, most observers would say that the macet on Thamrin is still pretty bad, especially during after-work rush hours. Some have argued that whatever small reductions are taking place on Thamrin are just spreading the congestion to nearby alternative roads such as Jalan Sabang, Jalan Jatibaru, Jalan Abdul Muis, Jalan Kebon Kacang and others.
Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjajha Purnama seems to be the only official to have given something of a concrete answer to the question of how the motorcycle ban could help traffic, although his answer is intuitive and not based on actual data.
When asked if it the ban was successful, Ahok said, “It’s definitely effective dong. If you are driving there and motorcycles are braking in front, the speed is not constant, causing congestion and accidents. Bikers like to cut across the road arbitrarily and brake suddenly making the flow of traffic so complicated.”
Ahok and other Jakarta officials have discussed expanding the ban to other areas, but have not said they would not make any official expansion plans until after the city acquired more free buses for motorcyclists to use within the ban zones.
