Govt plans to scrap 3-in-1 car pooling policy in Jakarta

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 05/08/2010 11:00 AM

The central government plans to scrap the 3-in-1 rush hour car pooling regulation in the city and implement a retribution system instead, says a city official.

M. Akbar, head of traffic management at the Jakarta Transportation Agency, told The Jakarta Post on

Friday the government was still drafting the regulation for the implementation of the new retribution system policy.

“We are still unsure about when we can start imposing the new regulation,” Akbar said.

The 3-in-1 is a policy aimed at limiting the number of vehicles on the city’s main roads by stipulating that cars have at least three passengers in their car during rush hour.

The regulation applies to main thoroughfares such as Jl. Sudirman, Jl. Thamrin, Jl. S. Parman and Jl. Gatot Subroto.

The policy was introduced in 1994, but it has proved ineffective as drivers hire traffic jockeys to ride as temporary passengers in their cars so they comply with the regulation.

The government plans to implement a new retribution policy that will be paid by motorists and says it will start discussing the plan in June.

Under the initial plan, the retribution will be imposed on all cars using the current 3-in-1 restricted area. Later, the fee will be imposed on cars with less than three passengers, Elly Sinaga, the director for urban transport development at the Transportation Ministry, told detik.com.

During that stage, the authority will need to install special devices to detect the number of passengers in a car.

The government still doesn’t know how much investment will be needed to implement the regulation, but it has proposed that each car pay Rp 20,000 to use Jakarta’s main thoroughfares during rush hour.

The Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation (YLKI) supports the plan, but has reminded the government not to use the policy to generate revenue rather than solve the city’s traffic problems.

With the new policy, the government should focus on efforts to improve the quality of the mass transportation in Jakarta, said Sudaryatmo from the YLKI.

“The policy should not only aim at limiting the number of cars, but also at creating a better transportation system,” Sudaryatmo said.

“It will be useless if the government tells people not to use private cars, but doesn’t offer any alternatives,” he added.

So far, Jakarta only has TransJakarta, a public bus system that uses a special lane.

But the existing system is considered incapable of providing public transport for the city’s population, while grand plans to build a subway and monorail have thus far been abandoned.

Private employee Krisdyan Widagdo Adhi, 29, said he welcomed the government’s plan.

“I hope this policy will deter people from using cars on main streets. I don’t mind paying if the traffic is smooth,” he said.

Krisdyan has refused to use his car to travel to his office on Jl. Zainul Arifin in West Jakarta, from

his house in Bintaro, South Jakarta, because of the bad traffic on Jl. Sudirman.

He currently rides his motorbike to his office.

However, Krisdyan hoped the new policy was not a short-term solution, saying the city desperately needed a reliable public transportation system.