Modest changes planned for Asian Games in Jakarta

Reports of clashes between security troops and residents of Rio de Janeiro's favelas intensified as early as 2008, a year after Brazil clinched hosting rights for the 2014 World Cup. The Brazilian Institute of Public Security found the number of deaths resulting from those conflicts climbed 69 per cent each year leading up to the soccer tournament.

The same happened in Beijing. In 2007, a year before the 2008 Olympics, the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions estimated that the event would displace 1.5 million people. But China disputed the claim, saying only about 6,000 people were affected.

In Jakarta the story looks likely to be repeated. The city is not planning to build new sporting venues like Beijing did, but instead renovate the existing velodrome, horse-racing track and other facilities. The only brand new construction will be an athletes' village in Kemayoran, central Jakarta, which at least according to current plans will not involve the mass relocat ion of people.

The plans for Jakarta's Asian Games do not look likely to change Jakarta dramatically, which is good, given the many examples of new facilities left abandoned in the aftermath of global sporting festivals. However, the looming relocation, if not eviction, of more than 1,000 residents from their homes around the historical site Luar Batang in North Jakarta and a change in the light rail transit route in connection with the Asian Games should be cause for concern.

The city administration has yet to confirm that the planned relocation of the residents is directly linked to the Asian Games. Tourism revitalisation and flood control are the stated reasons behind the relocation, but city officials say that Asian Games organisers will also benefit from the project, the like of which has characterised Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama's time in office.

The affected residents will be moved to rusunawa (low-cost apartments) located quite a long way from Luar Batang, a densely populated kampung (village community) situated between Museum Bahari and Sunda Kelapa Port.

The change to the LRT route was unveiled on Wednesday. Initially designed to connect Kelapa Gading in north Jakarta to Kebayoran in south Jakarta, the new railway will link the city's

velodrome and horse-racing track in East Jakarta, Britama basket

ball court in Kelapa Gading, the athletes' village in Kemayoran and Kota Tua Station in West Jakarta. Clearly that is a n investment to indulge athletes and their

supporters.

Being a nice host of the games is the responsibility of both the administration and the people of Jakarta. A good host also has to give visiting athletes a memorable experience. However, better planning and consultation is crucial, simply to avoid wasting money and demanding unnecessary sacrifice on the part of the people.

Source: Modest changes planned for Asian Games in Jakarta

Jakarta to Cut Public Transportation Fare

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jakarta provincial government has decided to cut public transportation fares following the cut of subsidized fuel by Rp 500 per liter.

Head of Jakarta Transportation Agency Andri Yansah said that based on the result of the meeting agreed on by Transportation Agency, the Jakarta Organization of Land Transportation Owners, Economic Bureau of the Jakarta Provincial Government and the Legal Bureau of the Jakarta Provincial Government, public transport fare has been cut by around Rp 300-500.

The change of the fare, Andri said, would be effective starting Monday (4/4).

Fare from small buses has dropped from Rp 3,500 into Rp 3,000.

"Small buses include microlet (public minivan), the Koperasi Wahana Kalpika (KWK) angkot (public minivan), and those kinds of buses," Andri said on Saturday.

In the meantime, fare for medium buses have dropped from Rp 3,800 into Rp 3,500 and fare for big buses turun from Rp 3.800 into Rp 3.500.

For taxi fare, the government has decided to cut the initial fare Rp 7,500 into Rp 6.500, while fare per kilometer has been cut from Rp 4,000 into Rp 3,500.  Waiting rate has been cut from Rp 48,000 into Rp 42,000 per hour.

For the record, the government decided to cut Premium fuel by Rp 500 per liter from Rp 6,950 into Rp 6,450 per liter.  Solar price has also been cut by Rp 500 per liter, from Rp 5,650 into Rp 5,150.

MAYA AYU PUSPITASARI

Source: Jakarta to Cut Public Transportation Fare

Modest changes planned for Asian Games in Jakarta

Reports of clashes between security troops and residents of Rio de Janeiro's favelas intensified as early as 2008, a year after Brazil clinched hosting rights for the 2014 World Cup. The Brazilian Institute of Public Security found the number of deaths resulting from those conflicts climbed 69 per cent each year leading up to the soccer tournament.

The same happened in Beijing. In 2007, a year before the 2008 Olympics, the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions estimated that the event would displace 1.5 million people. But China disputed the claim, saying only about 6,000 people were affected.

In Jakarta the story looks likely to be repeated. The city is not planning to build new sporting venues like Beijing did, but instead renovate the existing velodrome, horse-racing track and other facilities. The only brand new construction will be an athletes' village in Kemayoran, central Jakarta, which at least according to current plans will not involve the mass relocat ion of people.

The plans for Jakarta's Asian Games do not look likely to change Jakarta dramatically, which is good, given the many examples of new facilities left abandoned in the aftermath of global sporting festivals. However, the looming relocation, if not eviction, of more than 1,000 residents from their homes around the historical site Luar Batang in North Jakarta and a change in the light rail transit route in connection with the Asian Games should be cause for concern.

The city administration has yet to confirm that the planned relocation of the residents is directly linked to the Asian Games. Tourism revitalisation and flood control are the stated reasons behind the relocation, but city officials say that Asian Games organisers will also benefit from the project, the like of which has characterised Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama's time in office.

The affected residents will be moved to rusunawa (low-cost apartments) located quite a long way from Luar Batang, a densely populated kampung (village community) situated between Museum Bahari and Sunda Kelapa Port.

The change to the LRT route was unveiled on Wednesday. Initially designed to connect Kelapa Gading in north Jakarta to Kebayoran in south Jakarta, the new railway will link the city's

velodrome and horse-racing track in East Jakarta, Britama basket

ball court in Kelapa Gading, the athletes' village in Kemayoran and Kota Tua Station in West Jakarta. Clearly that is a n investment to indulge athletes and their

supporters.

Being a nice host of the games is the responsibility of both the administration and the people of Jakarta. A good host also has to give visiting athletes a memorable experience. However, better planning and consultation is crucial, simply to avoid wasting money and demanding unnecessary sacrifice on the part of the people.

Source: Modest changes planned for Asian Games in Jakarta

Jakarta to Try Out Eliminating 3-in-1 Policy

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jakarta Transportation Agency is planning to try out the elimination of the 3-in-1 traffic policy, which was designed to ease congestion, for seven days on 5 - 8 April and 11-13 April.

Jakarta Transportation Agency said that it would issue a decree regarding the try out.

For the record, through the gubernatorial regulation number 110 of 2012, the Jakarta provincial government has designated five 3-in-1 streets, namely Jalan Sisingamangaraja, Jalan Jenderal Sudirman, Jalan MH Thamrin, Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat and several parts of Jalan Jenderal Gatot Subroto.

After the policy being implemented for years, the policy is deemed ineffective to reduce traffic congestion in the city. The policy has also reportedly led to children being used as 3-in-1 jockeys or passengers-for-hire.

The agency also hoped that with more TransJakarta buses available and the sterilization of the lane, more people will be attracted  to use public transport and congestion in the city's streets will be eased.

ANTARA

Source: Jakarta to Try Out Eliminating 3-in-1 Policy

Trial may be end of ride for Jakarta's 'jockeys'

It could be the end of the road for one of the few beneficiaries of Jakarta's traffic-snarled streets – paid hitchhikers known as "jockeys" – with the capital to trial overturning its policy restricting main roads during peak hours to cars with at least three people.

Fitri Andayani working as a "jockey" in Jakarta on Wednesday. Photo: Tatan Syuflana

"Jockeys" for hire in Jakarta. Photo: Tatan Syuflana

Yanti offering her services as a "jockey" to a Jakarta driver. Photo: Tatan Syuflana

Yanti, carrying her child, seeking work as a "jockey" in Jakarta on Wednesday. Photo: Tatan Syuflana

Yanti, carrying her child, and Fitri Andayani, in pink, offer their services as "jockeys" for Jakarta motorists. Photo: Tatan Syuflana

exit

Jakarta: It could be the end of the road for one of the few beneficiaries of Jakarta's traffic-snarled streets – paid hitchhikers known as "jockeys" – with the capital to trial overturning its three-people-to-a-car policy.

Twenty-four years ago, Jakarta introduced a rule banning cars with fewer than three occupants from using main roads during peak hours.

The policy aimed to ease the the city's notorious traffic congestion.

However an unanticipated side effect was a booming black economy for some of the capital's poorest denizens.

Enterprising "jockeys" line the streets feeding onto main roads, offering their bums on seats for a small fee – about $2 – to commuters who need to make up car numbers.

Many jockeys carry babies because they count as an additional passenger.

The practice is not legal – jockeys are regularly nabbed in police stings and taken to prison-like social rehabilitation centres and drivers can be fined – but it is part of the daily fabric of this heaving, clogged metropolis.

But after a couple of jockeys were arrested for allegedly sedating their six-month-old baby while they worked, Jakarta's decisive governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama called for an end to the "three-in-one" policy.

"Personally, I want [it] gone because there's no effect whatsoever [on traffic]. [Jockeys] with babies [can bypass the regulation] and to keep the babies from crying they are drugged. I would rather sit in traffic than endanger these children," Mr Basuki was quoted saying in the Jakarta Globe newspaper.

Within days, Jakarta's Transportation Department announced a week-long trial would begin on April 5, lifting the ban on cars with fewer than three occupants.

But there are grave concerns this will create gridlock in a city that already has the worst traffic in the world according to last year's Castrol Magnatec Stop-Start Index.

The index, which used GPS data to calculate the frequency of stop-start driving, found that more than a quarter of the travel time of an average driver in Jakarta is spent idling.

Jakarta Transportation Council secretary David Tjahjana​ admitted a stakeholder meeting held on Thursday was "quite pessimistic" about the trial to end the three-in-one rule. "The Jakarta traffic police told the meeting that there's nothing much they can do about the traffic. The only thing they can do is engineer the traffic lights," he said. "Obviously it will be quite a problem."

Ellen Tangkudung​, a transport expert from the University of Indonesia, said the best way to address traffic congestion is to implement an electronic road pricing (ERP) scheme and encourage people to use public transport.

However the tender is yet to be called for a toll scheme planned for Jakarta's main roads, where cars would pay to use certain streets using an on-board unit.

And an above and below ground rail system, known as MRT (mass rapid transit) is not scheduled to begin operating until early 2019.

However the Jakarta administration has promised to boost its fleet of Transjakarta buses by 600 – still a small number given the capital's population of almost 10 million.

Achmad Izzul Waro from the Jakarta Transportation Council estimates traffic congestion will increase by 30 per cent if the three-in-one rule is scrapped, adding 30 minutes to a 100-minute commute.

"It will happen especially in the first days because people will be excited that now they can drive alone in the streets without jockeys," he told Fairfax Media.

Yanti, who carries her three-year-old in a sling, is paid 30,000 rupiah (about $3) per ride, a dollar more than if she was travelling solo.

She earns about $12 a day. "It's difficult if [the three-in-one policy] is scrapped. I do it to help the household, helping my husband," said Yanti, who didn't know any jockeys who sedated their children. "I shudder, I didn't know babies could be put on drugs," she added.

Like many Indonesians, she is stoic. If the trial becomes permanent, Yanti will use the money she has saved working as a jockey to start a new enterprise. "Perhaps I'll do a little business selling kids food like crackers, candies and ice-cream."

Follow Jewel Topsfield on Facebook

The story Trial may be end of ride for Jakarta's 'jockeys' first appeared on The Sydney Morning Herald.

Source: Trial may be end of ride for Jakarta's 'jockeys'