Tuesday, 1 December 2015

GOVERNMENT URGED PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS TO DEVELOPMENTS TO DEVELOP MASS RAPID TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM



The Ministry of transportation set target for procurement of 3,000 buses for developing mass rapid transport in 2015-2019. The buses would be distributed to 33 provinces in Indonesia. However the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system needed strong support from all provincial Governments. The implementation of BRT could start with opening special free lanes. If there was no special free lanes it was necessary to manage parking, hawkers and street vendors, or limitation of private cars.

There were pre-conditions for BRT development, i.e. to regularly serve on time and regulate buses to pass a corridor every 30 minutes, 20 minutes or 10 minutes. “but to realize such a proposition, the Government’s support was needed” Yuyun Wahyuningrum, director of Urban Transportation System Development, Ministry of Transportation, stated in Jakarta on Friday (31/7).

It was a pity Yuyun said, that not all local Governments understood the benefit of urban transportation networking which supported goods and passengers transportation. According to Yuyun, the Government needed stimulus and illumination about urban mass transportation like BRT.

As known, the Ministry of Transportation had officially begun assembling of 1,000 buses for BRT. Furthermore by 2019, 3,000 units of buses would be distributed to all provincial capital cities except Jakarta. He said that one of the cities having successfully managed urban mass transportation was Solo. Like Jakarta, Solo had Batik Solo Trans (BTS) which had been operating since 2014. Besides Palembang and Surabaya were beginning to improve their city transportation system. In Surabaya, the transportation system.

Some observers rated that the Government’s decision to build Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) in some big cities by this year was a big leap. The Government was not only thinking how to develop minus villages on the borderline and empower the people. The Government also wished to simultaneously make all big cities in Indonesia competitive against cities of the world. The cities in Indonesia must be modern, safe, comfortable, efficient and green.

Transportation expert Djoko Setijowarno recommended the Central and Provincial cities in Indonesia to build bus-based public transportation in the cities. BRT could be alternative solution to solve traffic jams. Djoko said that BRT had many plus points such as cheaper operational cost, maximum use or road surface, fast construction, low cost and flexible.

Therefore Djoko said, it was necessary to persuade Governors to accelerate realization of this program. He said that building of BRT was right in times when public transportation in the cities was having regress over the past 30 years. According to the Law of road Transport, local authorities were obliged and responsible to provide public transportation which was adequate and affordable by the people.

He said that public transportation which was worth developing according to public need was BRT. This transportation system was most appropriate of big cities like Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya etc. Some the cities being successful in operating BRT was Jakarta which ran the Transjakarta busway, Bandung with Trans Pakuan and Palembang with Trans Musi etc. Djoko rated public transportation was today on the brink of bankruptcy. The Government, with financial capacity from APBD or APBN budget could built BRT. It would be nist ideal if the transportation mode could synergy fund from the central and local Government. (SS)  

Business New - August 5, 2015         

No comments: