Evaluation Drives BRT Implementation

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JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Despite significant developments in many regions, the efforts to implement the bus rapid transit (BRT) system in 33 cities continue to face obstacles.

Transportation Ministry land transportation director general Budi Setiyadi said on Monday (1/21/2019) that several reasons were behind unsuccessful BRT implementation, among them the lack of state funding that had caused the ministry to fall short of reaching its 2014-2019 strategic plan targets.

“We will procure regional BRT buses in the 2019-2024 strategic plan, as Indonesia wishes to expand its BRT service. Apart from reducing traffic jams, BRTs also reduce greenhouse emissions,” he said.

However, the ministry would evaluate the effectiveness and shortcomings of the government’s planned regional BRT bus assistance through independent consultants and BRT trainers from Switzerland.

The evaluation will assess bus operators’ effectiveness and efficiency, as well as budget management and the commitment of regional administrations and legislative bodies. “The consultants will manage the evaluation, as the Transportation Ministry has neither the time or skills to do so,” Budi said.

Private companies

Receiving buses from the Transportation Ministry does not mean that regional administrations would automatically be able to transform their urban public transportation services. A BRT service requires strong and clear operational management for human resources, budget, legal bases and good managerial skills, including cooperating with existing public transportation systems.

Some regional administrations, such as Yogyakarta and Bandar Lampung, delegated the management of their urban BRT services to private companies, as they were incapable of managing the services themselves.

Land transportation head Sumaryoto of the Yogyakarta transportation agency said the Trans Jogja service did not qualify as BRT. “The requirements for a BRT include dedicated lanes, dedicated shelters and special payment systems [non-cash and/or off-board]. We cannot provide dedicated lanes. Our BRT does not run in dedicated lanes,” he said.

The Trans Jogja service has been managed privately run since January 2019, after initially being managed by the transportation agency’s technical unit. This was done in the hope of better management, with the private company managing operations and finances while the transportation agency provided oversight.

Director Dyah Puspitasari of PT Anindya Mitra International, which was assigned to manage the Trans Jogja BRT, said that the bus service could not function effectively without its prioritization as public transportation, which also affected how the bus drivers drove.

“Public service is our main duty as a company working in public services. Under the current management, we must manage our services properly, as we have fully responsible for managing the BRT service. Poor service would affect to our company’s image,” she said.

Major complaints included bus drivers not complying with traffic regulations and speeding. Dyah said that this was because the buses were sometimes stuck in traffic jams. “They have to adhere to a [timetable],” she said.

Work with public transportation

PT Transportasi Jakarta (TransJakarta) president director Agung Wicaksono said that among the lessons that determined the success of the Jakarta BRT system was the city administration’s readiness to work with public transportation systems that had existed before the BRT was established in 2004.

The company launched another massive effort in 2017, joining forces with small and medium-sized bus service operators. These operators were required to adhere to TransJakarta’s standards. “We view them as partners, not competitors, to provide the best services,” Agung said.

Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) Indonesia deputy director Faela Sufa said that, since the TransJakarta service was launched, the Jakarta administration had set the minimum service standards for public buses in city regulations. “A new transportation culture was established from all sides,” she said.

However, joining forces with existing public transportation services was not easy. Trans Semarang management head Ade Bhakti Ariawan said on Friday (1/18) that social problems emerged. “Prior to launching Corridor 7 of the Trans Semarang, we communicated with our peers who owned existing transportation services, as we believed that [they feared] we would be competitors. In the end, we involved them in our operations,” said Ade.

He explained that existing transportation services had not been involved with Trans Semarang operations for Corridors 2, 3 and 4, but they had been involved in Corridors 5, 6 and 7. Among the conditions for other transportation service operators to join forces with the Trans Semarang was scrapping their old routes.

Faela said that many regional administrations outside Jakarta were unable to upgrade their existing transportation services and agencies. “The hardest job is to embrace these existing services. The quality of these services must be compatible with and standardized to match [the new BRT system]. The government must accommodate their wishes,” she said. (ARN/PIN/RTS/HLN/IRE/DIT/VIO/NCA)

Editor:

BRT PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION