BRT detours irk Amman-Zarqa commuters

AMMAN — Traffic diversions since the inception of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project works have turned the daily commute between Amman and Zarqa into a long trudge, road users complain.

Amman Mayor Yousef Shawarbeh announced on several occasions that the construction of the BRT’s infrastructure will be finished by the end of 2020, while its operation will begin at the end of 2021.

"Finding solutions to the traffic problem in Jordan is a good step, but it was sort of late. It was executed without studying the repercussions of implementing the project, which caused traffic jams without offering temporary solutions,” Mahmoud Shamasseen, a civil engineer, told The Jordan Times on Sunday.

Shamasseen said that the traffic jams have “paralysed” vehicular movement around the capital, and wondered whether the projects currently being implemented “would serve the capital in the coming 20 years”.

Suhaib Rasmi, who lives in Zarqa and commutes regularly to Amman, said that whether he is driving a car or taking the bus, the commute has become “much worse” with the detours enforced in the last couple of months.

"The new detours are very annoying. From one detour to another, it takes me 45 minutes, not even the whole way," Rasmi said, adding: "I studied civil engineering and learned about roads and traffic, and honestly I do not believe that the BRT is a good solution for the traffic problem."

"Usually, a metro is an ideal solution and does not take much space, but the route made for this project took over two lanes, reducing roads of four lanes to only two on each side going to Amman," Rasmi said. 

"It is not only my body — my mental health is bad because of these detours. I've become angry all the time when leaving the house and on the way back," Hadeel Quran, another commuter, said.

She added that it takes her almost double the time to get to where she needs to be, compared to before.

For her part, Batool Fadi, who commutes from Zarqa to the University of Jordan, said that it used to take her a maximum of one hour to get to her lectures, but now it takes a minimum of an hour and a half. 

She added that the long commute times have caused back and neck pains for her and her friends, even those who get off the bus at Tabarbour, which is around the halfway point of the trip.