"It is time for the city to seriously consider non land road mass transport mode to cope with worse traffic jams in the city; either mass rapid transit (MRT) or light rail transit (LRT)," head of the city transport service Wirawan Hario Yudho said here on Monday.
Wirawan, however, said the city could not alone plan construction of mass transport mode given the limited capacity and high urban agglomeration of the city.
"Certainly we hope there is joint study between the city administration and the Yogyakarta district administration to build the mass transport mode to forestall worse traffic jams in the near future," he said.
Wirawan said unless construction of such project is implemented immediately, traffic jams would be a daily scene in the city in the next five years.
"Some main roads would be full of vehicles that many city workers would spend most of their time in the road than in their working places," he said.
Last year, the number of private cars and motorcycles in the city of Yogyakarta grew 7-10 percent. The growth rate is predicted to be higher this year.
"Buyers are queuing at car and motorcycle dealers. It is now much easier to procure cars or motorcycles with credit resulting in a sharp growth in the number of motor vehicles in the roads. Meanwhile the road capacity is almost unchanged," he said.
Traffic jams are worse in Yogyakarta at weekend or Fridy night and at rainy days.
Wirawan suggested companies not having enough land for parking ask their workers to use public transport vehicles or provide workers buses.
"The parking places of some companies are already full with cars owned by their workers that there is no more space for the cars of their visitors," he said.
The city and part of the Yogyakarta district area are already served with city buses of Transjogja and other transport companies, but the number of the Transjogja buses is limited.
Wirawan hope the transport company could increase the number of its buses to meet the growing demand.
However, what is much more important is to change the mindset of the people too proud to use means of public transport.
A member of the Commission C of the City Council Ardi Prasetya said "in short term we could do to cope with traffic jams is repairing the public transport buses for the convenience of the users."
MRT or LRT project would take time for studies and agreement between the city and the district administrations, he said.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
