Jakarta`s "Old City" being provided with tourist transportation facilities

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Jakarta`s "old city" in the capital`s western part will soon have a minibus service to carry tourists around the area.

"We will operate two minibuses on a route connecting all objects of touristic interest in the area," deputy head of the local transportation office Udar Pristono told ANTARA News on Thursday.

He said the service would be run jointly by his office and the Jakarta branch of the culture and tourism department.

"A complete bus ride starts at the Bank Mandiri Museum, makes a stop at the Puppet Museum and ends at the Mandiri Museum. The route is being discussed with the tourism and culture office," he said.

In the near future, a tunnel for pedestrians would connect the old city with the rest of Jakarta, he added.

"Tourists staying in accommodations on Jalan Thamrin, one of Jakarta`s main thoroughfares, could take a TransJakarta bus to the downtown Kota area where they only need to pass through the pedestrian tunnel to reach the Mandiri Museum. So people do not need to use private cars to reach the old city," he added.

A pedestrian lane along Pintu Besar Utara Street in front of the Puppet Museum and the Fatahillah Museum Park was now under construction.

Work to provide the transportation facilities was started in 2006 as part of a project to revitalize Jakarta`s old city as a tourist attraction.

The old city proper covers a total area of 864 hectares.