Car-Free Commute Program Kicks In for Semarang Officials

Car-Free Commute Program Kicks In for Semarang Officials
By : Jakarta Globe | on 4:22 PM November 27, 2015


Jakarta. A directive from Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo for civil servants to leave their motor vehicles at home once a month as part of efforts to tackle air pollution in the city came into force on Friday.

The order, introduced on Oct. 30, states that civil servants may not bring their cars or motorcycles to work on the fourth Friday of November, December and January. For the next three months thereafter, the prohibition will apply on the third and fourth Fridays of the month. From June 2016 onward, it will be every Friday.

To mark the start of the policy, Ganjar set out for work on Friday morning by bicycle, stopping by several provincial office buildings along the way to see if any officials had driven their cars or motorbikes to work.

At the governor’s office, he prowled the parking lot to identify which of the vehicles there belonged to civil servants, then taped a piece of paper to each one that read “The owner of this vehicle must come and see me in my office on Monday.”

“It’s all about obeying the rule and being committed to it, even though at this stage we’re just looking to see how effective it is,” Ganjar said as quoted by CNN Indonesia.

He added that despite the number of motor vehicles at his office’s parking lot, he was still pleased to see that many civil servants cycled to work or took public transport.

“If they need more public transport stops in the vicinity the governor’s office, we can make that happen,” he said.

The idea of a regular car-free commute day for civil servants was first introduced in Jakarta by Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama at the start of the year, with city officials not allowed to drive to work on the first Friday of every month.