Being appointed to be the host for the upcoming big sports event, Asian Games, which will be held in Jakarta and Palembang, no doubt, 2018 is indeed a special year for Indonesia. About 15.000 athletes for 40 sports categories and 7000 officials from 45 countries, will take part in the event. The overwhelming number of the Asian Games 2018 attendees and their enthusiasms shows that Indonesia has gained trust from other Asian countries in hosting the event. While it is something that Indonesia shall be proud of, however, to host the event successfully, Indonesia needs to do anticipation and be well-prepared to handle such a big crowd.
As mentioned in my earlier article, Sneak Peak into Asian Games 2018, one of the important issues that need to be answered urgently is about transportation in Jakarta. Jakarta is not only a busy city but also high populated, hence, the traffic jam on most of the roads is almost inevitable. However, as the event host, there are requirements to abide by and Indonesia is no exception.
” The maximum travel time for the athletes to get to the venue is 30 minutes. “
One example of the requirements is the maximum 30 minutes travel time from the Wisma Atlet to venue for all athletes. The purpose is to prevent stress and fatigue the athletes might suffer from the long travel time to the venue, as well as to keep the rundown on time as it should be. Besides that, long travel time might cause the excessive amount of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) inhaled by the athletes which will affect their stamina and performances.
Jakarta and Palembang are in a similar situation. Therefore, it is necessary for Indonesia to come out with special solutions to make sure the Asian Games 2018 event will run as per schedule without neglecting to offer a solution for the society’s whose daily routines will also be affected by the implementation as well. Imagine that there will be 15.000 athletes and 7000 officials heading to the venue every morning during the Asian Games 2018 event. It has not included the supporters which will burst the number of people on the road easily in a snap of fingers. If it is not handled well, there will be chaos.
The Solutions with Community in Mind
The Ministry of Transportation through BPTJ (Badan Pengelola Transportation Jabodetabek), the unit under government sector handling transportation system matters in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi area, released three public transportation solutions to support the smooth running of the Asian Games 2018 event. Those three solutions are Traffic Management Implementation or Manajemen Rekayasa Lalu Lintas (MRLL), Public Transportation Supply, and Limited Number of Heavy Vehicles (category III, IV, and V) on the road. These solutions are applied on trial since July 1, 2018.
“Asian Games is also the right momentum to encourage people to take public transportation. It helps to cut traffic jam effectively and also reduce air pollution,” explained Bambang Prihartono, the Chief of BPTJ. According to him, in order not to exceed the maximum travel time for the athletes, the solutions mentioned above have been carefully examined together with all related government instances.
The first solution – Traffic Management Implementation or Manajemen Rekayasa Lalu Lintas (MRLL) can be seen from the odd and even car plate number scheme implementation at the major area in Jakarta. It is one of the solutions that has significantly reduced traffic jam by 35%. Hence, they will apply this scheme to more areas without neglecting the daily activities of the community.
The second solution – Public Transportation Supply, is hoped to compensate for the disadvantages caused by the first solution. As many as 76 units of Transjakarta buses have been added to the current 294 existing unit buses. Besides that, there are 57 unit buses serving routes from hotels or shopping malls to the venue, and also another 204 buses to serve areas that affected by the odd and even car plate number scheme. Plus, another 10 unit buses for non-event purpose. As the bonus, all buses to the venue are free of charge.
The third solution – Limiting the number of heavy vehicles and road access, by doing so, it helps to reduce the slow traffic movement caused by the big numbers of heavy vehicles. The given alternative routes have been carefully planned without causing too much cost and times spent on the road due to the reroute.
Follow BPTJ on Twitter for the latest updates.
Let's support Asian Games 2018 by taking public transportation #AyoNaikBus Share on X
How to Support Asian Games 2018
Asian Games is a big event that brings pride as well as a possibility of shame if it is not carried out properly. Thousands of journalist from 45 countries will become witnesses for more than 4 million people in Asia. Therefore, in order to be able to execute all the plans successfully, let’s support the solutions that the Government has come out with – to switch from private to public transportations. And another concrete way to support the success of the event is by attending the event, be there to support the athletes! Asian Games will be held from Aug 18, 2018 – Sep 2, 2018.
Any sports categories you plan to attend? You may grab your tickets here. See you there!
[CREDIT & SOURCE]
BPTJ Public Relation, Ministry of Transportation | Ministry of Youth and Sports | Kamadigital
