Intermodal Synchronization Needed
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Integrated structural efforts are being planned to resolve congestion in Greater Jakarta (Jabodetabek). It is expected that public mobility can be improved by minimizing the use of private vehicles.
The public mobility plan is to be managed by a body comprising the governors of the related areas. This body will also regulate licensing in developing transportation modes that overlap.
The plan was revealed during a coordination meeting on Monday (1/28/2019) that involved several ministers and the regional heads of Jabodetabek, which was led by Vice President Jusuf Kalla at his office in Jakarta. The meeting was a follow-up to a limited meeting on Jan. 8 led by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on reforming Jabodetabek’s transportation system.
Earlier, the Vice President monitored traffic conditions aboard a helicopter with Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono and Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan.
President Jokowi previously expressed his hope that the Jakarta governor would spearhead the efforts to improve the Jabodetabek transportation system.
The public mobility body’s formation is expected to take six months. The Vice President intends to request a report from all relevant parties in a week or a month from the coordination meeting.
Transportation Minister Budi Karya said that the authority of the existing Jabodetabek Transportation Management Agency (BPTJ) would be evaluated.
BPTJ head Bambang Prihartono, who attended the coordination meeting, said that the establishment of the new body for managing the Jabodetabek transportation integration plan was still under discussion.
The transportation integration plan that incorporates provincial spatial planning would refer to the Jabodetabek Transportation Master Plan under Presidential Regulation No. 55/2018. Bambang said that he would thus be involved with Anies in detailing the development plan for the next month. One of the key issues is financing models.
BPTJ has targeted 60 percent public transportation use in Jabodetabek by 2029. Current public transportation use in the area is only 24 percent.
City planning
Kalla said that an integrated Jabodetabek transportation structure would resolve not only transportation problems in the long term, but also urban planning issues such as human settlements in connection with other cities.
The poor generally lived outside the city, while the wealthy lived in the city. This burdened the poor with high transportation costs and also increased the number of interchange journeys that people must make.
According to Kalla, poor people should be able to live in the city, since wealthy residents were able to choose from among various modes of transportation.
Therefore, the long-term plans to improve the transportation system included improved connectivity between Jakarta and its outlying regions, as well as better spatial structuring of housing density. The improvements to the Jabodetabek transportation system were expected to be complete in 10 years.
"The short-term measure is to integrate existing transportation modes," Kalla said, adding that “integration” referred to combining the various modes of transportation – train, commuter train, MRT, LRT and Transjakarta – under a single system.
Massive development
Anies added that managing congestion also required massive and concurrent development of transportation infrastructure in the next 10 years. Funding needs were projected at Rp 605 trillion, under a combined financing scheme using the state budget (APBN) and regional budgets (APBDs).
However, the 10-year massive and concurrent transportation infrastructure development would impact traffic in the capital. The stages of construction would be designed in a way to mitigate its impact on traffic.
To make the capital’s transportation system more effective and efficient, said Anies, the Transjakarta bus service must expand to 2,149 kilometers from the current 1,100 kilometers it covered. The light rail transport (LRT) must extend to 130 km from the initial 5.8 km that would soon become operational. The integrated highway must span 112 km, expanded from the 16 km Lebak Bulus-Bundaran Hotel Indonesia route. The minivan fleet must expand to more than 20,000 vehicles.
Facilities and infrastructure
In addition to expanding the transportation infrastructure, Anies said, related public facilities and infrastructure must also be expanded.
He estimated that an additional 600,000 housing units were needed. Moreover, clean water utility services must cover 100 percent of Jakarta, and wastewater treatment services must cover more than 50 percent of Jakarta.
Anies said that today’s congestion was one of the effects of the disconnected state of intermodal transportation and the disconnectedness between the spatial layout and the public transportation system. "Route that connect residents and office buildings should be taken into consideration," he said.
According to Kalla, the decline in mass transportation users was due to better roads and bridges and the lower price of cars. Therefore, improving the quality of public transportation should be the primary focus. Beyond this, increasing parking rates and electronic road pricing (ERP) should also be considered.
However, changes in technology, population growth and housing developments meant that adjustments were needed in all transportation and related matters. All regional heads therefore needed to review and adjust their spatial and regional plans, said Kalla.
Budi said that the initial step involved inventorying technical matters that were uncoordinated, after which regional collaboration on intermodal transportation could be discussed. (INA/JUD)