Most Asian countries these days have some sort of Mass Rapid Transportation system, Hong Kong the very efficient subway, Shanghai - the excellent monorail, Bangkok - the MRT subway and the BTS overhead railway...
Jakarta has long had a traffic problem, so the Indonesian solution.......
Busway!
What is a busway i hear you ask?? Well subways and monorails etc are too expensive for Indonesia so we get the busway.
Yes, yes, yes, but what is it?
Well, you cut a major arterial road in half, place some bluestone blocks in the way to keep cars out of it, and then run ordinary 'special' buses along this 'dedicated busway lane'. Mind you at crossroads and the start and end of each busway the said busses still have to fight with the traffic, oh yes and funding to actually provided buses to travel these routes is somewhat limited. But never mind, Sutiyuso, previous major/governer of jakarta allegedly made US$ 8,000,000 in bribes and kickbacks per busway line he signed off on, hence the possible reason he signed off on as many as possible before his term of office expired.
And what do you think the result of cutting roads in half is.....? Yep, worse traffic. :(
Here's some pics of the magnificent busway being built......
I didnt mean to capture a pic of the worker sleeping, but its perhaps rather appropriate of the Indonesian work ethic....
and almost complete busway in Pondok Indah area.... nice innit?
oh sorry didnt realise, the raised concrete thingy next to my (stationary car) is the busway lane!
actually, those pics were taken in Pondok Indah, which is an area of a lot of new money, palatial OTT mansions etc, locals call them Rumah Pembantu, which translates as the maids house, cos most of these people are never there anyway, just the house staff.
Anyway - these people protested the most out of everyone against the busway being built in their area, so last week some important person sat down and negotiated with them, end result, cars can use the busway line in Pondok Indah during peak hours......
Leaving the rest of us confused as to the point in spending all of that money to put in this lane in the first place....
Jakarta has long had a traffic problem, so the Indonesian solution.......
Busway!
What is a busway i hear you ask?? Well subways and monorails etc are too expensive for Indonesia so we get the busway.
Yes, yes, yes, but what is it?
Well, you cut a major arterial road in half, place some bluestone blocks in the way to keep cars out of it, and then run ordinary 'special' buses along this 'dedicated busway lane'. Mind you at crossroads and the start and end of each busway the said busses still have to fight with the traffic, oh yes and funding to actually provided buses to travel these routes is somewhat limited. But never mind, Sutiyuso, previous major/governer of jakarta allegedly made US$ 8,000,000 in bribes and kickbacks per busway line he signed off on, hence the possible reason he signed off on as many as possible before his term of office expired.
And what do you think the result of cutting roads in half is.....? Yep, worse traffic. :(
Here's some pics of the magnificent busway being built......
I didnt mean to capture a pic of the worker sleeping, but its perhaps rather appropriate of the Indonesian work ethic....
and almost complete busway in Pondok Indah area.... nice innit?
oh sorry didnt realise, the raised concrete thingy next to my (stationary car) is the busway lane!
actually, those pics were taken in Pondok Indah, which is an area of a lot of new money, palatial OTT mansions etc, locals call them Rumah Pembantu, which translates as the maids house, cos most of these people are never there anyway, just the house staff.
Anyway - these people protested the most out of everyone against the busway being built in their area, so last week some important person sat down and negotiated with them, end result, cars can use the busway line in Pondok Indah during peak hours......
Leaving the rest of us confused as to the point in spending all of that money to put in this lane in the first place....
