Busway going nowhere

We can already envisage what the traffic will be like once the busway project is up and running. The congestion starts at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle and ""Hot Plate Harry"" traffic circle in Kebayoran, South Jakarta.

Even when there are no special buses on the roads! What will happen when passengers start going backwards and forwards across the street because there are no stairs or they are too lazy to use them?

And then, there is the extended 3-in-1 restriction from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. from Monday to Friday. I am a female senior citizen and always drive alone. I am too scared to hire two ""jockeys"" to make up three people in my car and, besides, I need my money for other things than paying such jockeys. This is really too much. So I cannot go to Kebayoran or Glodok downtown from Monday to Friday? Or I have to be home ""in the stable"" by 4 p.m.? And after that I cannot go out again to see a doctor, do errands, or visit friends in Kebayoran or Kota or meet at a restaurant there? (I live in Grogol, West Jakarta).

What about all the offices/banks/restaurants/hotels/shops on Jl. Thamrin, Jl. Sudirman and Kota and their visitors, bosses and employees who drive alone? They will have to leave the office at 3:30 p.m. or earlier, to run the gauntlet in time, or be stuck there until 8 p.m.

And then think of the plight of servants sent to pick up their bosses from the office. Three employees (two servants and the driver) will be needed to fetch the boss. Just imagine the discomfort of the servant and the boss sitting together in the back -- only one of the servants can sit in the front next to the driver. Not to mention the problems faced by housewives, who have to let their servants go for between two and four hours at the time when dinner has to be prepared and they need the servants.

Only a man could think up such a useless scheme, inconveniencing the whole city for the profit of a few. I am furious. But how can we stop this nonsense?

SUHARTO Jakarta

[The Jakarta Post]