In the latest attempt to ease the capital’s legendary traffic problems, the Jakarta government says it will start the trial of the odd-even car license plate system on July 27 as a stop-gap solution after it revoked the previous 3-in-1 policy. The move is intended to bridge the gap until the implementation of the electronic road pricing (ERP) system, which is said to be coming next year.

“The trial will be held on July 27 to August 26, while the official implementation is going to be on August 23,” said Andri Yansyaha, head of Jakarta’s transportation agency, as reported by The Jakarta Post. “Then, this policy will only last until electronic road pricing is introduced by the end of 2017.”

Andri explained that all vehicles with even number license plates will be prohibited from using certain priority roads on even dates, and vice versa, and that zero is considered an even number. However, the policy will not be applicable to motorcycles, yellow-plated public transportation vehicles, ambulances, fire trucks and VIP vehicles. The rule will be enforced in the old 3-in-1 zones: Jl. Thamrin, Jl. Gatot Subroto, Jl. Sisingamangaraja, Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat.

The restrictions will be applicable in the morning and afternoon rush hours, which are from 7am-10 am and 4.30pm-7.30pm. They will not be enforced during weekends and public holidays.

The implementation of the odd-even policy has been delayed several times since 2013. Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known as Ahok, made the final decision to act as traffic is worsening after the removal of the 3-in1 policy, which he revoked because he said the system exploited children and babies through the practice of using car-jockeys to get round the policy.  

Data from the Jakarta Police shows that there are almost 17 million vehicles in the capital, with almost 51 percent having odd-number license plates and 49 percent even-number. Backed by this data, the Jakarta government is confident that odd-even is a fair policy.  

During the implementation period, Ahok has warned that the use of CCTV cameras should thwart attemtps to bypass the process.

“It will be easy to monitor [the implementation of the policy] because we will have CCTV,” said Ahok. “Should you change the license plate on the road, officers will find out. If your plate doesn’t fit your vehicle documents, officers will know it and you will be charged with document forgery.”

There will be also 15 monitoring spots in nine intersections for the police to check vehicles, including Bank Indonesia, Sarinah department store, Bunderan HI and the Kuningan and Cokroaminoto intersections.

“If the law enforcement is strict, the program will be successful,” said Andri.