Government Urged to Improve Public Transportation to Anticipate Energy Crisis

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of Commission V of the DPR, Syaiful Huda, is urging the government to improve public transportation to reduce public dependence on private vehicles. The overhaul of public transportation is also viewed as a measure to anticipate the energy crisis resulting from conflicts in the Middle East. “The energy crisis we are facing now must serve as a catalyst for the government. We cannot keep getting trapped in reactive policies like working from home (WFH) every time oil prices surge. The permanent solution is to shift public mobility from private vehicles to adequate public transport,” Huda stated in his remarks on Monday (6/4/2026). This situation will undoubtedly severely impact users of private vehicles due to global oil prices. Therefore, the government must carry out improvements so that private vehicle users can switch to public transportation. “There must be a clear roadmap so that public transportation in Indonesia truly becomes the backbone of comfortable, affordable transport that reaches all areas,” Huda said. If the overhaul is carried out, he believes that residents of big cities will switch to public transportation and indirectly reduce fuel use. “Other big cities like Bandung, Surabaya, Semarang, Medan, Makassar, Palembang, urgently need serious attention to the availability of adequate mass transportation,” Huda stated. He said that investment in public transportation is a form of long-term resilience for Indonesia. “So we view the energy crisis we are facing now as the right momentum to seriously and sustainably overhaul mass transportation,” Huda added.