UGM’s Centre for Transportation and Logistics (PUSTRAL UGM) held a discussion titled Implication of School Zonation to Internal Transportation System of Sleman on Tuesday (28/8) at their office at UGM to build synergy with stakeholders.
Education agency and transportation agency from across the province were present in the event to give response to the impact of school zonation system.
Joewono Soemardjito, ST., M.Si., researcher from the Centre, said the Education and Culture Ministry has issued regulations for school zonation in the country. Schools are expected to accept a minimum of 90% of students who live near the school.
According to Joewono, this policy has caused people’s mobilisation, especially students, to be more concentrated in Sleman. Before the policy, as many as 13.1% of Sleman students study at another regency in the province while 13.6 % of students from other regencies study in Sleman. This was because students from other regencies in Sleman are more evenly spread than those of Sleman in other regencies. “Besides, Sleman also receives students from other provinces,” he said.
Joewono said this would impact in the traffic. For example in Sleman areas, at the start of school hours, traffic is very heavy, and so is in the afternoon when they return home. Such heavy traffic is caused by the numerous private vehicles that are used, which are cars and motorcycles, as opposed to public transport.
“Our research showed that the community is unwilling to use public transport due to various reasons, such as bus station location that is far, long duration of journey, and higher expense,” he said.
There are, however, other bright spots related to the problem. He said that the percentage of pedestrians and cyclists is still aplenty in Sleman. “Those two means can be developed as solution to minimise the heavy traffic,” he said.
Hantoro, Chairman of Yogyakarta Land Transportation, highlighted the preparedness of public transport in this issue. He saw the lack of number of vehicles in Yogyakarta, particularly TransJogja. “TransJogja can only be used in Jogja city and Sleman,” he lamented.
Hantoro suggested improvements so that all areas of the province can be covered. “Hence, all people in the province, especially students, can make use of it to go a long distance efficiently,” he said. He also suggested that not just schools but also parents disallow the use of private vehicles for students.
Meanwhile, Rahvi, representative from Kulonprogo transportation agency, said there were actually plans to provide school buses initiated by the provincial transportation agency, but this has yet to be discussed further with related agencies.