City Administration to Apply Vehicle-Free Policy on Malioboro
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28 May 2019 20:12 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Yogyakarta - City administration planned to run a trial of the vehicle-free policy at the Malioboro area after Eid al-Fitr in June 2019. Tourists or local residents will later be barred from using motorized vehicles in the area.
Yogyakarta Deputy Mayor Heroe Poerwadi, said that the tourism area was projected to be a pure pedestrian area that could only be accessed by traditional transportation modes such as becak (three-wheeled pedicabs), andong (horse-drawn carriage), bicycle, and Trans Jogja Bus.
"We will start the trial run in June after Lebaran (Eid holiday),” Heroe told Tempo on Monday, May 27, 2019.
However, Heroe is yet to announce the trial date due to lack of permit from Yogyakarta administration. Currently, the Yogyakarta administration is still in the process of coordinating traffic flow in the city and planning for traffic rerouting for a number of lanes during the trial.
Heroe explained that coordination is necessary to anticipate the impact traffic rerouting during the trial period. He added that the Malioboro street is the central area of Yogyakarta that connects many routes to the city's main thoroughfares. "The economy will also be affected," he said.
The free vehicle area was expected to alleviate congestion as well as ease mobility and transportation. “Because [in] Yogyakarta it is impossible to add more lanes, let alone expand it,” he added.
Head of Yogyakarta Transportation Agency Sigit Sapto Rahardjo, said that the agency is preparing more parking lots along Jalan Malioboro prior to the trial.
PRIBADI WICAKSONO