NGO prefers busway to monorail

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

What is the most suitable and sustainable public transportation mode for this city that hosts over 10 million residents, who mostly rely on public transportation? According to green non- governmental organization Pelangi, the answer is busways.

The organization, which is conducting a series of studies on public transportation, asserted that the busway would be preferable to the ambitious monorail project and the very costly subway.

A monorail is now under construction by private consortium PT Jakarta Monorail, while a subway is being planned jointly by the Jakarta administration and the central government.

"For us, the most important issue in assessing the most preferable mode of public transportation is that the system must be sustainable financially, it must bring benefit to the greater community, and it must use environmentally friendly technology.

"Based on these sustainability requirements, the busway outweighs the subway or monorail," Pelangi's policy analyst Andi Rahmah told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Andi, who is also a member of the Jakarta Transportation Council, added that the investment and maintenance costs of the busway were much less than the subway and monorail.

"By my calculations, the investment cost for one kilometer of subway is equal to the cost for building a 35 kilometer busway," Andi said, adding that monorail is also much more expensive than the busway.

The 28-kilometer monorail project will cost at least US$650 million.

She said that maintenance costs for the busway were also quite minimal, as "we don't need to subsidize the project since the operation of the busway will be able to cover maintenance costs, and even make profits".

Pelangi recommended the development of the busway instead of the subway or monorail since the latter two projects would only force the administration to provide huge subsidies for services, she added.

"It would be better if the administration uses the subsidies (for the ambitious monorail or subway projects) for other projects, like poverty alleviation or educational assistance."

The administration plans to expedite the development of another 14 busway corridors by 2007, at an estimated cost of around Rp 2.5 trillion (US$263 million).

A survey done by the Japan International Cooperation Agency in 2002 showed that only 13.3 percent of Jakarta residents used private cars. Most residents use public buses (56.6 percent) or motorcycles (28.3).

Meanwhile, a transportation expert at the University of Indonesia, Jack Sumabrata, warned that the administration had to get more serious in developing the busway project.

"There is a looming danger that the administration will lose its focus and seriousness in developing the busway project amid poor coordination among city agencies involved in the project," he said.

Comparison in investment costs between busway, monorail, subway

Investment cost Route length

Subway Rp 13.95 trillion 15 kilometer
Monorail Rp 6 trillion 28 kilometer
Busway Rp 240 billion 12.9 kilometer

From various sources