Legislator Urges Government to Issue Presidential Instruction to Accelerate Public Transportation

Member of the House of Representatives Commission V, Irine Yusiana Roba Putri, has highlighted the low commitment of local governments in providing modern public transportation. Based on data from the Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI), out of a total of 514 local governments in Indonesia, only around 8 percent or 42 regions allocate APBD funds for the development of public transportation. This means that more than 90 percent of cities and regencies still have minimal decent, safe, and affordable public transportation services. The legislator from the PDI Perjuangan Faction assesses that this situation indicates that public transportation has not yet been positioned as a priority for basic services. “This 8 percent figure is a serious alarm for all of us. It means that the majority of regions still do not consider public transportation as the primary need of the community,” Irine emphasised in a statement received on Monday (30/3). She stressed that the availability of public transportation is not just a matter of mobility, but also directly related to the community’s access to education, healthcare services, and economic opportunities, especially for low-income groups and people in remote areas. According to her, public transportation must be viewed as a basic service that determines the equitable distribution of national development, particularly in island regions and 3T areas. “Public transportation is not merely a mode of travel, but a bridge of opportunities for the people to work, study, and live more prosperously,” she said. Furthermore, Irine views that the state needs to be present through strong national policies to ensure fair access to public transportation across all regions. Therefore, through Commission V of the House of Representatives, she will urge the central government to immediately issue a Presidential Instruction (Inpres) on Public Transportation to accelerate the development of public transportation services in the regions. This approach is considered capable of emulating the success of policies through the Regional Roads Inpres and Irrigation Inpres. Irine also reminded that the obligation to provide public transport has been regulated in Law No. 22 of 2009 on Road Traffic and Transportation. However, to date, the implementation of strong national policies has not been evident. In fact, the budget for the Buy The Service (BTS) bus programme in the regions has even experienced a decline. The legislator from the North Maluku electoral district also emphasised the importance of support for the electrification of public transportation and the expansion of services to 3TP areas (disadvantaged, frontier, outermost, and inland). According to her, without fair mobility access, inter-regional disparities have the potential to widen further and hinder the equitable distribution of national development. “Public transportation is the foundation of equitable development. Without fair mobility access, inter-regional disparities will widen even more,” she said.