Transportation has been an essential element of people's lives. The main reason is that people cannot fulfill all their needs in one location, and hence, they need to move from one place to another. Such a need to move from one place to another will require support in transport facilities and infrastructure. Therefore, the continuous development of a transport system is a constant need. The demand for transport in a region is positively affected by the economic output and population number in the corresponding region. The higher the economic production and the number of people, the higher the demand for transport.

In Indonesia, the province with the highest economic output and population is Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. Jakarta's economic production and population keep growing from time to time from urbanization, which is a sign that transport system development is a constant need for this region.

A comprehensive study to capture Jakarta's transportation challenges has been done by Farda et al. [1]. When we look at the Jakarta Province, it has severe congestion every working day, resulting in a high amount of emission and time losses. Jakarta Province, the core of Jakarta Metropolitan Area (The JMA Consisting of Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi), has many commuters from peripheral cities and from within Jakarta itself every working day. The high number of commuter's movements, coupled with modal share dominated by private transport (62.2%), results in severe congestion [2].

However, despite its transport problems, Jakarta and JMA is the most progressive province, compared to the rest of Indonesia, in terms of transport system development even though more actions are still needed. This metropolitan area has various public transport systems, including urban railway (KRL), Transjakarta Bus Rapid Transit, Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), and Light Rapid Transit System. Regular bus and minibus services are also available in this region. The most popular mode of transport in the region is an urban railway (KRL) and Transjakarta Bus Rapid Transit. The number of daily passengers of these two public transport systems keeps increasing (excluding the current anomalies due to the COVID-19 pandemic) [3].

For the last three years, Jakarta and JMA have started operating the MRT and LRT systems even though the network expansion of these two modes continue. This shows that Jakarta and JMA have great potential in terms of transport system integration, and policies are needed to optimize the positive impact of the system. This ensures that the transportation systems complement and not compete with each other, which then creates an optimal benefit to society.

Therefore, there are at least three measures that can be taken to achieve this purpose. The first is the presence of a strong transport authority. Integrating transport systems will require intense coordination among stakeholders for system planning, schedule coordination, ticketing integration, etc. Such coordination needs to be led and facilitated by a strong transport authority. The second measure is the presence of an integrated masterplan. This masterplan should ensure that the network of a particular transport mode strengthens the other transport modes' network. Furthermore, The masterplan should include the integration with the land-use system and also set the standard for public transport services. The standard indicators should consist of convenience, equity, accessibility, safety, security, and reliability. Finally, as the development of the transport system requires massive investment, sustainable resources, funding, and financing for transport system development needs to be identified. Therefore, a public-private partnership to build and operate public transport systems is a scheme that can be explored. In addition, value capture schemes such as property management, advertisement, etc., are additional potential funding sources that can be explored to sustain a public transport system's operation [1].

If successfully created, a high-quality public transport system will considerably alleviate traffic congestion and its chain effect, e.g., air pollution, travel time loss, respiratory disease, and support the overall economy. Therefore, measures or policies in this respect should be one of the priorities of policymakers.

 

References

[1] Farda M, Lubis HA. Transportation system development and challenge in jakarta metropolitan area, indonesia. International Journal of Sustainable Transportation Technology. 2018 Oct 30;1(2):42-50.

[2] Ministry of Transportation, "Jakarta Metropolitan Area Transport Master plan," 2015.

[3] E. Sinaga, "Jakarta Metropolitan Area Public Transport System Integration Facilities," 2017.