Widodo inaugurates Jakarta’s 1st subwayBy ASSOCIATED PRESShome/News/World/Widodo inaugurates Jakarta’s 1st subwayJAKARTA, Indonesia: Indonesia’s long-awaited first subway opened Sunday in the country’s capital with the aim of relieving crippling traffic gridlock in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. Minutes after inaugurating the 16-kilometer (10-mile) transit line running south from Jakarta’s downtown, President Joko Widodo presided over a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of the second phase: Eight-kilometer (five-mile) northward line planned for completion by 2024. “Today we will begin a new civilization by operating the first phase of mass rapid transit in Jakarta,” Widodo told several thousand guests and residents at the inauguration. Passengers can ride for free until the end of the month, after which operator PT Mass Rapid Transit Jakarta has said tickets would cost the equivalent of between 70 cents and $1. Jakarta’s first subway line, the latest of many infrastructure improvements across the world’s fourth most populous nation, is aimed at helping it catch up with other southeast Asian capitals such as Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok in public transport.

Source: Manila Times March 24, 2019 17:15 UTC