The Jakarta provincial government may scrap the odd-even traffic rule amid a reported increase in coronavirus transmissions on public transportation vehicles in the capital.
Governor Anies Baswedan says the odd-even rule — which only allows cars with license plates ending with an even number to be used on affected major roads on even calendar dates and vice-versa for odd dates — may be put on hold when the city’s social restrictions policy is up for review tomorrow.
“We are always transparent and we always use data and convey them completely,” Anies said today.
Indonesia’s COVID-19 task force head Doni Monardo previously said that the return of the odd-even rule in early August, after its suspension in March amid the pandemic, drove commuters to take public transportation as opposed to driving their own vehicles to work in the capital.
Doni said that 62 percent of the 944 COVID-19 patients currently being treated at the Wisma Atlet Kemayoran emergency COVID-19 hospital were regular public transportation users.
“The data showed that with the enforcement of the odd-even rule in Jakarta, there was an increase of 3.5 percent for train passengers from an average of 400,000 passengers each day,” Doni said, using the data as a basis to recommend for the suspension of the odd-even rule in the capital.
Reader Interactions