On Again Off Again: Ahok Pulls Plug on 3-in-1 Traffic Policy
Jakarta. The temporarily suspended 3-in-1 system will be permanently scrapped from next week after failing to ease traffic congestion and instead leading to rampant child exploitation, a city official said on Thursday (12/05).
The finalization comes after a four-week suspension of the system — which bars private vehicles carrying less than three passengers from entering a number of main thoroughfares — ends this weekend.
Traffic on affected roads has increased during the suspension, but the situation is not markedly different from when the system was running, Jakarta Transportation Office head Andri Yansyah said.
"Traffic will indeed increases if 3-in-1 is removed. But with or without it, traffic will still be congested," he said. "After the trial ends there will be no 3-in-1 at all."
Andri said that although traffic issues will take longer to resolve, the practice of jockeys — people who hire themselves and often their children or babies to ride along as passengers to bypass requirements — will be obsolete.
The decision comes just two days after Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama announced the city would bring back the decades old policy.
Jakarta police have maintained they will support the plans of the administration — whatever those may be. Traffic officers will be increased to anticipate congestion.
"Traffic on roads leading to the 3-in-1-affected roads has been relatively heavy," Jakarta Police traffic enforcement sub-unit head Adj. Sr. Comr. Budiyanto said.
The scrapping is part of a larger plan to transition the city towards the long-awaited electronic road price (ERP) scheme. The technology and infrastructure for ERP is available but regulations and payment procedures are still being prepared by the administration.
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