Jabodetabek Transportation Integration: Transportation Agency Needs to Merge with Greater Jakarta Transportation Body

This article has been translated by PwC Indonesia as part of our Indonesia Infrastructure News Service. PwC Indonesia has not checked the accuracy of, and accepts no responsibility for the content.

Bisnis Indonesia - Integrasi Transportasi Jabodetabek: Dinas Perhubungan Perlu Dilebur ke BPJT

11 January 2019

By Muhammad Wildan, Rinaldi M. Azka, & Hendra Wibawa

Jakarta — Institute for Transportation and Development Policy recommended a merger between Transportation Services Offices across Greater Jakarta and Greater Jakarta Transportation Management Body (BPJT).

Southeast Asia Director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), Yoga Adiwinarto said the purpose of the merger is to address the issue of overlapping authority and transportation policies in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi (Jabodetabek).

According to him, Greater Jakarta transportation needs an intact unity of policies. In addition, he said, the government’s plan to integrate transportation modes in Greater Jakarta needs to give clarity to the operating institutions.

“There is another institution, i.e. BPJT which has money from the state budget, but doesn’t have the space, whilst Jakarta regional government has the land, but sometimes doesn’t have the money,” he explained to Bisnis, Wednesday (9/1).

According to him, President Joko Widodo’s plan to appoint DKI Jakarta Provincial Government as the coordinator in the integration of Greater Jakarta transportation is already appropriate. The reason is Jakarta Provincial Government has money and space to solve the transportation issue.

Besides that, he argued that it is important to be clear about BPJT’s role as an agency which has been tasked with managing transportation in Greater Jakarta areas.

He also recommended the establishment of consortium incorporating all stakeholders who have control over policies with Jakarta Provincial Government as the coordinator.

He mentioned an example of Bekasi which has built Transpatriot buses, but is separated from the whole network of Greater Jakarta transportation.

“It means the agencies are the key. If the cook is not right, whatever the recipe is, it won’t go well. We need to find the right recipes, and second, the right cook, the two of them altogether,” he said.

Yoga said of the transportation in London as an example. There, he explained, all Transportation Offices in the context of policies are merged into one body named Transport for London (TFL).

According to him, TFL manages transportation from the planning to the execution in the Greater London areas or London and its surrounding. Regional Transportation Offices are only assigned to preserve transportation infrastructure such as roads and street lighting.

Hence, he went on, the central government only intervenes when there is bottlenecking or major obstacles to be resolved, whilst DKI Provincial Government deals with the technical matters, starting from the policies, planning, to the execution.

Sectoral Ego

Meanwhile, Head of Transportation Study Institute (Instran) Darmaningtyas said Jokowi’s complaint on the difficulty of realising transportation integration in Jakarta is because of the dominant sectoral ego.

As an example, he said in Dukuh Atas, there is Sudirman Station, but it is not connected to Transjakarta bus stop and Jakarta MRT station. At Gambir and Juanda Stations, the Transjakarta bus stop should have been located inside the stations to facilitate intermodal transit, but it does not happen because PT Kereta Api Indonesia minds if Transjakarta bus stops are built inside the stations.

“So, as long as sectoral and regional egos are still dominant, the so-called integrated transportation will be just a talk,” he asserted.

So far, the settlement of transportation issues always comes down to building a new project, so congestion issue is not solved.

Meanwhile, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi pointed out that he is ready to support DKI Jakarta Provincial Government if it is eventually appointed to be the coordinator of transportation integration in Greater Jakarta by Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

President Joko Widodo in a closed meeting ordered that transportation integration in Greater Jakarta be managed by one party who is competent in handling such tasks under the Vice President’s supervision.

“I think the President’s idea to form one agency to handle it is a really good one. It doesn’t matter if BPJT doesn’t manage [the transportation integration], if it should be DKI Jakarta Provincial Government [who manage the integration], we will give our support,” said the Transportation Minister.

Besides giving support, Budi Karya also applauded the plan to form a joint venture to integrate ticket payment among PT Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro), PT MRT Jakarta, and PT Transjakarta.

The Minister hoped the integration is not implemented only by the three regional enterprises (BUMD), but it should also tap PT Kereta Commuter Indonesia (KCI) and other stakeholders operating public transportation in Greater Jakarta.

“So there will be one single payment card applicable to all. Imagine if everything should have its own payment card, we’ll have a thick pocket. So I propose [inviting] not only them, but also KRL,” said Budi.

Previously, DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said his agency is prepared if it was appointed as the coordinator for the Greater Jakarta transportation integration.

Principally, he expressed DKI Jakarta Provincial Administration is ready to be tasked with the implementation of transportation integration in Greater Jakarta. “The point is in Jakarta we will start with improvement inside DKI Jakarta area, after that we will expand outside by increasing the coverage of mass public transportation,” said Anies, Wednesday (9/1).

Anies also said there are 25 national roads out of 38 national roads whose operatorship has been transferred to DKI Jakarta Government so that issues can be solved without having to deal with authority overlap issues among agencies.

Anies also stated that the loss caused by congestion in Greater Jakarta amounts to Rp100 trillion per year. In a closed meeting held at Presidential Palace with West Java Governor and Banten Governor, Anies said he is ready to have a further discussion on the instructions given by President Jokowi.

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