Transportation needs quick reform: Experts

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In addition to its energy conservation efforts, the government should take immediate steps to improve public transportation, experts say.

"The current power fiasco is the momentum the government must use to introduce to a comprehensive energy conservation policy," Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI) president Bambang Susantono said on Saturday.

MTI suggested improvements to public transportation should be combined the introduction of electronic road pricing on main thoroughfares such as Jl. Sudirman, Jl. Thamrin and Jl. Rasuna Said.

According to Bambang, the combination of these policies would contribute to energy conservation because it would discourage people from using private vehicles.

"The combination of the two would cut fuel consumption for transportation by about 18 percent," Bambang told The Jakarta Post.

Jakarta accounts for 10.8 percent of the 59.6 million kiloliters of fuel used nationwide each year.

According to data from the City Transportation Agency, there are 6.3 million private vehicles -- cars and motorcycles -- and some 330,000 public transportation vehicles in Jakarta.

Public transportation is used by some 55 percent of all people who work in Jakarta.

The chairman of the City Transportation Council, Soetanto Soehodo, shared Bambang's view, saying the city administration must focus on developing public transportation.

"The government indulges private car users, developing infrastructure for them. It is time to give serious attention to public transportation," he told the Post.

According to Soetanto, the massive traffic jams caused by this policy not only increased fuel consumption, but also caused other serious problems, including cutting the productivity of Jakarta workers.

"The majority of Jakarta workers spend three hours to four hours a day in traffic. This can only be fixed by improving public transportation," he said, adding that the busway was a significant step forward in public transportation development.

He said the city administration should continue with plans to develop 15 busway corridors across the city, as well as feeder lines.

Soetanto said developing busway corridors was, for the time being, the most feasible way to improve public transportation because the city did not have the money to develop other forms of mass public transportation like a subway.

"The amount of money it would cost to build a subway (from Monas in Central Jakarta to Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta) would be equal to the amount of money needed to build 14 busway corridors."

It has been estimated that it would cost US$767.66 million to build a subway from Monas to Lebak Bulus.