From busway system to monorail dream<\/p>\n
Burhanuddin Abe, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
With a population of about 8.5 million, Jakarta has become
\nintensely crowded and increasingly mired in problems related to
\ntraffic congestion.<\/p>\n
Flyovers and underpasses have been built but they cannot keep
\nup with increases in the size of the population and the number of
\nvehicles on the roads.<\/p>\n
Some people estimate that Jakarta's population surges to some
\n11 million people during the day because people living in buffer
\ntowns come into the city to work.<\/p>\n
It is not difficult to imagine just how chaotic traffic in
\nJakarta is!<\/p>\n
In addition to a busway system, the Jakarta administration
\nalso plans to introduce other means of mass transportation, such
\nas a monorail and water transportation, to cope with the traffic
\ncongestion.<\/p>\n
People living in Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi will hopefully
\none day be able to travel into the city on an efficient and
\ncomfortable mass transportation system.<\/p>\n
However, it is true that any mass transportation system for
\nJakarta is still all talk as of this point. Although the city
\nadministration expects an integrated transportation system to be
\nrealized by 2015, resident hope to be able to enjoy a modern and
\ncomfortable transportation system much sooner.<\/p>\n
At present only the busway system has been introduced, but in
\nits present state the system only serves one corridor, namely the
\nBlok M-Kota route. It is hoped that the busway will be able to
\nimprove the appearance of the city and boost economic activity.<\/p>\n
The performance reliability of the busway system, better known
\ninternationally as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), plus the
\neffectiveness of the investment costs involved, have made this
\nsystem the right choice for many developing countries, Indonesia
\nincluded, in improving their public transportation systems.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Jakarta has yet to meet all the prerequisites
\nnecessary for the success of this system. A highly partial
\nproject-style approach has led to misperceptions on the part of
\nthe public in viewing the concept of the busway system as the
\nright way to reform Jakarta's public transportation system.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the monorail as a rapid transportation alternative
\nfor heavily congested Jakarta is, at best, just a topic of
\ndiscussion, with still no real signs that construction has begun
\non such a system.<\/p>\n
The government adopted the idea of a monorail system from
\nMalaysia. Actually, the system under discussion here is more
\nsuitably called a monotrack because it uses a single track,
\nunlike the railway line used by state railway company PT Kereta
\nApi.<\/p>\n
According to Sukmawaty Syukur, director of Indonesia Transit
\nCentral (ITC), the company that holds the concession for the
\nconstruction of the monorail, there will be three primary routes
\nfor the monorail system in Jakarta. These will be the 70
\nkilometer-long East-West corridor (Cikarang-Bekasi-Jakarta-
\nTangerang), the 25 kilometer-long North-South corridor (Bintaro -
\nBlok M-Kota) and the 20 kilometer-long Jakarta CBD corridor
\n(Golden Triangle-Manggarai).<\/p>\n
If the monorail does come to operate along these three
\ncorridors, traffic congestion in Jakarta would be much reduced,
\nif not removed entirely.<\/p>\n
However, ITC, as the partner of Malaysia's Mtrans, has put
\nforward only plans for the first-stage of monorail construction,
\nnamely the track along the 22.5 kilometers from Bekasi to Mega
\nKuningan. If this plan gains approval, the second stage will
\ninvolve the Jakarta-Tangerang route and the Bekasi-Cikarang
\nroute.<\/p>\n
The monorail is a modern and traffic-congestion-free urban
\ntransportation system. It is cheaper than a light-rail transit
\n(LRT) system, which requires heavy-duty construction. In
\naddition, the monorail would only require 2.5 years to build
\nwhile an LRT would certainly take more time.<\/p>\n
\"The monorail is the best option for a city like Jakarta,\"
\nSukmawaty said.<\/p>\n
The monorail is special in that it can readily reach users as
\nit passes through the city. As many as 14 stops would be built
\nalong its tracks. At an average speed of 40 km\/hour or a maximum
\nspeed of 80 km\/hour, the monorail could carry 30,000 passengers
\nin an hour.<\/p>\n
The monorail, which would be built 5.5 meters above the ground
\nor 12 meters above the ground where it passes over a flyover,
\nwould be extremely effective for densely populated Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The first stage of its construction, which would take 2.5
\nyears to complete, would be expected to require US$400 million,
\nless than the construction of a subway, which would require $1.2
\nbillion for every 13 kilometers.<\/p>\n
If the government is consistent with a plan it conceived two
\nyears ago, the construction of the monorail along the Bekasi-Mega
\nKuningan route will be completed by early 2006.<\/p>\n
According to As'ad Nugroho, a researcher attached to the
\nPublic Interest Research and Advocacy Center, the construction of
\na monorail is a smart idea as rather than clashing with other
\ntransportation systems it would complement them.<\/p>\n
Bambang Susantono, the secretary-general of the Sustainable
\nTransportation Action Network for Asia and the Pacific and an
\nadvisor to the National Development Planning Board, agreed to
\nsome extent with As'ad but added that for the monorail to
\novercome Jakarta's transportation problems the management of the
\ncity's transportation needed to be integrated.<\/p>\n
He was of the opinion that the most suitable system for
\nJakarta is the MRT (mass rapid transit).<\/p>\n
\"The MRT is a must. However, it is still too difficult to
\napply this system in Jakarta, which is backward compared to other
\nmajor cities abroad,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In any case, the public is no doubt in for a long wait for a
\ntransportation system in which safety, comfort and punctuality
\nare priorities, due to the huge cost.<\/p>\n
The construction of the Blok M-Kota busway corridor in 2003,
\nfor example, required no less than Rp 83.25 billion for the
\npurchase of 60 new buses, the construction of bus stops and the
\nrebuilding of pedestrian overpasses, among other costs.<\/p>\n
One thing is for sure, according to Yayat Supriatna, a
\nlecturer of planology engineering at Trisakti University in
\nJakarta, in principle the monorail system is the best option for
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
As a national and international center for trade, Jakarta
\nrequires a comfortable, safe and rapid public transportation
\nmeans. What must be taken into account in furthering the
\ndevelopment of a public transportation system in Jakarta today is
\nhow to integrate a transportation network with dynamic growth
\ninto rapidly and uncontrollably developing surrounding areas.<\/p>\n
The causes of the perennial traffic congestion in Jakarta lie
\nin the failure to anticipate change in the system of land use and
\nalso in the late development of a road network and a decent
\npublic transportation system.<\/p>",
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