Doni Monardo Said That the Odd-Even System Contributes the Positive Cases of COVID-19, DKI Government: It's Still Safe

JAKARTA - Head of DKI Jakarta Transportation Agency, Syafrin Liputo, claims that the increase of public transport users due to the odd-even system is still safe.

It is a response to the statement of the Head of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Doni Monardo, who asked the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government to evaluate its odd-even policies amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Regarding the odd-even, the Department of Transportation continues to conduct evaluations. Weekly, daily, and one month ago. Likewise, with the increased public transportation users, based on the evaluation result, it's still safe," said Syafrin to reporters, Sunday, September 6.

Syafrin explained, in general, public transport users have increased to 4%.

"The last average, one month ago, after we got the result, the figure was around 4%," said Syafrin.

Syafrin said that the increase is still far from fulfilling the capacity provided.

He gave an example of the use of the Integrated Moda Raya (MRT). As long as the odd-even system is implemented, the maximum passenger capacity only reaches 100 people. "This means that only about 30% of the available seats are filled," said Syafrin.

Then, the increasing use of Transjakarta, according to Syafrin, is also still within reasonable limits. Before odd-even takes effect, Transjakarta's passenger capacity is at most 60%. When the odd-even is implemented, the increase in Transjakarta passengers only increases by 12%. Moreover, since the odd-even, Transjakarta has increased the number of seats by 25%.

"After the odd-even implementation, they added the capacity by 25%. So, an average increase of 4% overall in public transportation has not seen a significant increase, judging from the available capacity," explained Syafrin.

For information, the Head of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Doni Monardo, asked the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government to evaluate the odd-even policy amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This policy is considered to have contributed to the increase in positive cases of COVID-19 in Jakarta.

This statement is based on data from patients at Wisma Atlet Kemayoran Hospital. Doni said of the 944 patients, about 62% of them were public transportation users. 

"We ask the DKI government to conduct an evaluation (odd-even policy, red). So, our efforts to reduce this crowd can be carried out," said Doni Monardo.

Based on the results of conversations between the COVID-19 Task Force and the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government and related institutions, it was found that the number of public transportation users, especially trains, was 3.5% from the average number of passengers:400 thousand people per day.

"This 3.5% figure seems only a little bit. But, since the number of passengers on the train is quite large, this 3.5% increase ultimately increases the density of the carriages," said Doni.

The increase also occurred for Transjakarta users. After the odd-even policy implementation, there is an increase in passengers by 6% to 12%.