Jakarta acts as ‘model’ for city transport

Indah Setiawati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 02/03/2010 11:43 AM

Experts have urged the central government to push for transportation reforms in Jakarta, claiming that the city acts as a role model for other cities across Indonesia.

“Other cities in the country regard Jakarta as an ‘older sibling’, and will quickly adopt any improvements made to public transportation in the capital,” Indonesia Transportation Society (MTI) secretary-general Danang Parikesit said Tuesday.

Danang was perhaps alluding to the development of the Transjakarta bus rapid transit (BRT) system, which had lead to the development of BRT systems in several other cities including the Trans Jogja service in Yogyakarta, the Trans Semarang in Semarang, Central Java, and the Trans Pakuan in Bogor, West Java.

The BRT systems in those cities are not exactly the same as the Jakarta busway, because they do not have dedicated lanes yet. However, the design of the buses is similar, with the Trans Jogja and Trans Pakuan using smaller buses and Trans Semarang using the same size.

Reforms were urgent because the limited existing roads were not enough to serve the 120 million residents anticipated to be living in cities across Java island by 2025, Danang said.

“We only highlight the threat of traffic gridlock in Jakarta, but other big cities like Bandung [West Java] and Surabaya [East Java] will face the same problem if there is no fundamental policy change,” he said.

MTI data shows that the average speed of vehicles in Jakarta is 20 kilometers per hour, slightly higher than the 19 kilometers per hour in Bandung, and less than the 25 kilometers per hour in other big cities.

Damantoro, another expert, said the MTI recommended the reforms be supported by Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), Transport Demand Management (TDM), law enforcement and non-motorized transport.

“The reforms must be supported by these other four actions because we consider that there is no single solution for transportation in cities,”

Transportation reforms could include the development of an efficient public transportation network that was integrated with the spatial plan, Damantoro said.

He also called for the restriction of permits for private operators of public transportation, and the allocation of a budget to provide incentives and disincentives to improve the performance of transportation services.

Damantoro said TDM included restrictions on private driving licenses, and pricing schemes, spaces and times for parking management.

Indonesia needs to start using technology to enforce traffic regulations, he said.

The role of non-motorized vehicles also needed to be prioritized by providing supporting infrastructure, Damantoro said.

Danang said he did not see a concern in building housing areas near public transportation networks.

“The dispute raised by Pondok Indah residents [in South Jakarta] over the development of the Transjakarta network in the area is one example,” he said.

Danang said the MTI continued its support for the Transjakarta system, aimed at encouraging people to use public transportation instead of private vehicles.

The Transjakarta busway could be improved by clearing other vehicles from the exclusive busway lanes and adopting better technology in ticketing to make sure the system was fair, he said.