[sustran] Jakarta close to deciding on congestion pricing?

Paul Barter peebeebarter at gmail.com
Wed Jun 29 08:52:18 JST 2011


This may still fail to make it through the political process. It will be
interesting to see.
Paul
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One legal boundary to go for Jakarta ERP

Andreas D. Arditya, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 06/25/2011 10:48 PM
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/06/25/one-legal-boundary-go-jakarta-erp.html

Jakarta came one step closer to implementing the much-anticipated electronic
road pricing (ERP) system after a regulation was signed by the President,
but the city administration says there is still a long way to go before the
system becomes a reality.

Transportation Minister spokesman Bambang S. Ervan confirmed on Friday that
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had signed Government Regulation (PP) No.
32/2011 on Traffic Management and Engineering on June 21.

He said the PP regulated steps to be taken by the regional administration to
implement the ERP, which includes planning, managing traffic, procurement
and preparing road facilities.

“The regulation lists a number of requirements for the ERP, including that
the system can be implemented where the number of vehicles are higher than
the road capacity,” Ervan said Friday.

However, Ervan said that the PP did not state that Jakarta was obliged to
implement the ERP.

The PP also mandates that regional administrations handle traffic problems
by limiting the number of private cars, cargo vehicles, motorcycles and
parking spaces, he added.

The city has proposed that the ERP system discourage motorists from using
private cars and instead opt for public transportation.

The initial plan for the scheme is for the ERP to be applied on roads in the
current “three-in-one” car pooling zones.

Under the 3-in-1 system, enacted in 1994, private cars must have at least
three people in them to enter main thoroughfares from Blok M in South
Jakarta to Kota in West Jakarta during morning and afternoon rush hour on
weekdays.

The ERP would replace the 3-in-l system, and with it the infamous passenger
surrogates, known locally as jockeys.

Motorists can cheat the system by paying jockeys — who wait on the side of
the roads leading to 3-in-1 zones to ride in their cars in the zone for a
fee of Rp 25,000 (US$2.9) to Rp 30,000 per ride.

Separately on Friday, Transportation Agency chief Udar Pristono said that
although the President had approved the technical frame for the ERP’s
implementation, it was unlikely that the system would be implemented in the
near future.

“We are still waiting for another PP currently being drafted by the Finance
Ministry regarding a number of policies related to the ERP,” Pristono said.

He said one of the main obstacles holding back the implementation of the ERP
scheme was that the road-pricing levy was not included as tax or retribution
in the 2009 Regional Tax and Retribution Law.

“The new PP would solve this problem by categorizing the ERP fees as a tax
or retribution,” he said.

Pristono said that even after the PP was approved, the city would still need
at least one year to procure the equipment needed for the system.

The agency chief, however, said the city would hold a trial on a
smaller-scale private vehicle limitation in Jakarta.

“Later this year, the city will co-host the Southeast Asian Games. We will
need to engineer the traffic so the event can be successful,” he said.

Among the options under consideration are limiting the number of cars
entering a number of roads based on license plate numbers, car color or
special stickers.

Pristono said that imposing an even-odd license plate monitoring system
would require technology to read car license plates.

Cars with license plates ending in a certain digit would not be allowed to
travel on specific days.


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