When the Jakarta provincial government announced it would begin testing the odd-even traffic rule on some of the capital’s busiest streets on July 20, one obvious problem that sprang to mind is how motorists can easily circumvent the new rule by alternating their license plates on corresponding odd or even days, since fake license plates are so readily available for purchase in Jakarta.
The police say they’re aware of the potential problem and said that they’d keep a close eye on fake license plates when the odd-even rule is enforced.
“What’s clear is that we’d ticket [vehicles with] fake [license plates]. We can even charge them with fraud,” said Jakarta Metro Police Spokesman Awi Setiyono, as quoted by Okezone yesterday.
The odd-even rule is seen as a stop-gap solution to the worsening rush hour traffic caused by the removal of the 3-in-1 rule before the eventual implementation of the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system, which is predicted to be ready by next year.
The test of the odd-even system will run until August 20 and will be enforced on Jalan Thamrin, Jalan Sudirman, Jalan Gatot Subroto and also Jalan Rasuna Said (the last of which was not previously covered by the 3-in-1 rule) weekdays from 7am to 10pm and 4pm to 8pm. Under the rule, only cars with license plates ending in odd numbers can use those roads during rush hours on odd calendar dates, and vice-versa. The rule, however, does not apply to motorcycles wherever they’re not prohibited.
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