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. "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. The average peak hour speed has "significantly decreased" to 10 kilometers an hour (6.2 miles per hour), according to the transport ministry. The line opened Sunday runs from the southern neighborhood of Lebak Bulus to Jakarta's downtown and is expected to take less than 30 minutes. The initial subway line aims to carry only about 130,000 people a day by the end of this year.

Source: ABC News March 24, 2019 05:15 UTC