REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The implementation of the even-odd traffic system has successfully diverted users of private vehicles to use public transportation. The Research and Development Agency of the Ministry of Transportation revealed the finding.

"There is 24 percent diversion from private vehicles to public transport. Out of the 76 percent, 38 percent used mass means of transport, 20 percent used buses, and 18 percent used the train or public railways," Head of the Ministry of Transportation Research and Development Agency, Soegihardjo, stated in a press conference on the Evaluation of the Even-Odd policy in Jabodetabek area, held in Jakarta, on Thursday.

However, other commuters switched to taxis, both online and conventional, he added.

"About 39 percent switched to online transport, both taxis and scooters (ojek online), while 7.5 percent chose to go with conventional taxis and 9 percent went with private motorcycles," he remarked.

Although he believed that the system had been successful in converting people from private vehicles to public transport, there are still a lot of people who chose to commute in their own cars, with 53 percent.

Sugihardjo stated that of all people who use private vehicles, 37 percent use alternative routes, while 16 percent have two cars, each with an odd and an even license plate. For that reason, he believed that once the policy is applied permanently, there is a 30 percent possibility that a lot of people will purchase new or used cars.

Additionally, Transportation Observer Djoko Setijowarno assessed that there needs to be reduction in the tariff in order to keep attracting the public to use public transportation. In China, for example, public railway rates are only two yuan, and bus service costs one yuan.

"For certain corridors, they do not even charge the passengers. Their railway reaches up to 10,000 kilometers, while ours only reach 1,200 kilometers," he noted.

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