Special Topics on Global Architecture Assignment

By : PUTIKA ASHFAR KHOIRI (putikaa@civil.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp) / ID : 28J16118

The Importance of Public Transportation System in

Indonesia for Reducing Traffic Load.
In order to realise sustainable urban transport, it is necessary to combine
different kind of decision making including vision-led, plan-led and consensus led
approaches. Transportation issues has been a complex problem in Indonesia such
as congestion beside decreasing of fuel storage. In the recent years, increasing
number of population is associating with the increasing number of motor vehicles
in Indonesia. This problem contributes to the congestion in urban cities. The
government supposed to do an alternative way to reconstruct public
transportation system in Indonesia which has implemented either in developed
country or developing country.

Fig 1. Congestion in Jakarta Highways

In 2016 the number of vehicles in Indonesia reach 76,907,127, which is 79.42%
is motorcycles. This amount has been increasing since 2010. From the data we
can see the significance of incensement are focus on the amount of motorcycles
which are dominant. Private vehicles in Indonesia are dominant in many ways
therefore congestion and decreasing of fuels storage being problems in
transportation section. Some infrastructure already builds by the government to
solve the problem (make new roads and highways in several urban cities in
Indonesia like Jakarta and Pekanbaru). But Indonesian still cannot solve
congestion problem or minimize it, especially in Jakarta as a capital city. The
other decision from government instead of build new infrastructure is developing
new mass transportation system (busway) which has been applied in several
countries. This system has been applied since 2004 in some city in Indonesia by
The Ministry of Transportation in Palembang, Yogyakarta, Bogor, Solo, Batam,
Pekanbaru, Semarang, Manado, Gorontalo, Bandung, Tangerang , and Ambon
until the middle of 2010.
Development of busway and train
Actually mass transportation has applied in Indonesia, especially in Java Island by
train transportation system. It's connected all the big city in Java island and it
has big amount of mass capacity to reduce the congestion cause of private
vehicles. It has several characteristics from ticket cost classification by class from
economy to executive. Also this transportation is a free traffic-jam system
because it has its own transportation tracks. Public transport in Indonesia is out
of dated in many ways. The most visible to look at is on-road train. Most of train
in Indonesia are imported second hand from Japan. While Japan is competing to
raise their electronic train as one of the highest speed train in the world, train in
Indonesia still in a modest quality. Not only in terms of high speed, but also in
terms of the quality of service for the passenger. This condition makes
Indonesian prefer using private car rather than public train or buses. The impact
is bad. Traffic congestion is more often occurred in Indonesian big cities,
including Jakarta, Bandung, and Surabaya.
Issues and Causes
It is apparent that management issues would be the primary causes of problems
that are present in the urban public transportation in Indonesia. What is apparent
is that various integrated transportation system problems are identified as the
sort of problems that have a very significant role when it comes to contributing
to a lack of high quality in the providing of public transportation. The fact is that
inefficient management practices and bad structure of the national public
transport system can be labelled as being the primary causes of the bad quality
of the public transport service. There is no framework within companies
functioning in this industry that permits upward communication and hence there
is no way for feedback and suggestions of improvement to be channelled up to
persons within the upper management. Also, the monopoly which is being
exercised by cooperatives and also licensed route operators are significant
causes of that hamper the progress of public transportation in Indonesia.
Infrastructure Planning and Regulation Change
In order to achieve the strategic goals, improving service management, making a
precise and accurate scheduling of transportation related services in needed.
There can be various number of enhancements which are required for public
transportation system in Indonesia for being improved. The first of these involves
through reorganizing of the Indonesian bus industry and this this would involve a
proper and equal redistribution of power among parties that are involved so as to
generate healthy competition and this has the outcome of making prices of
transportation services become more competitive and hence more affordable to
consumers. The presence of a monopoly of operators within the licensed routes
as well as monopoly by cooperatives that act as intermediaries between private
companies and the Indonesian Government must be eliminated as they are
acting to restrain positive change.
It is essential that the government remove this monopoly and to help make the
industry become more equal and non-oppressive to consumers. There should be
an implementation of a system that comprises of the government, various
cooperatives and also local operations. there must be an equal balance of power
among these parties and this would help to enhance the standards of public
transport in Indonesia. It is also essential that monopoly of various cooperatives
and operational local owners be reduced significantly. The changes in the
organization would also bring about changes in the present regulatory policies
and practices within the industry. Ministry of Transportation and other regulatory
organizations and must be given considerable amount of power to enable it to
effectively monitor and also regulate the Indonesian transportation system.
There must be a framework implemented which requires that existing operators
only be granted a license if they have satisfied certain criteria such as upgrading
their vehicles, etc. There must also be changes made to how drivers are
compensated. Also regulations must be implemented to prevent unscrupulous
monopolistic activity in the industry. In essence, it would involve enhancements
introduced to enhance the conditions of the present road network, to reduce the
costs of transportation as well as to provide enhanced regional accessibility. It is
also suggested that there be development of public transportation system
tracks. There must also be a continuous monitoring of results so as to encompass
measures like customer perceptions, staff perception and also supplier
responsiveness. There must also be a reviewing of the team's performance.
Steps must also be taken in order to enhance the operations continuously using
a performance sequence mechanism.
Conclusion
We can summarize that the cause of congestion is private transportation (car
and motorcycle). This was due to our quality of public transportation. However
public transportation can only exist if we chose vertical development over a
horizontal development. Vertical development will provide sufficient mass of
people to develop an integrated transportation. If we still develop more and more
suburb area, we need more and more car. When we develop our city horizontally,
it takes a long journey to go to the public transportation hub (bus stop). So we
prefer motorcycle instead of using public transportation. We must remember that
even public facilities, is a business. There is no such thing as business without
profit. Indonesian culture to prefer landed housing compared to vertical housing
has made private developer to develop more and more suburb.

In my opinion, the fastest way to resolve traffic problem in Indonesia are:

1. Promote more remote work. Most of the jobs are actually remote-able.
However, most employers cannot yet measure the productivity using this way.
Plus, the common lazy culture (sorry to say) will make people less productive.
2. Limit vehicle age entering main roads on workdays. This will drastically reduce
the number of vehicles on the main roads. 'Classic' cars can only enter on
weekends. People will be forced to choose public transport or to get newer cars,
something not everyone can afford. This will also reduce pollutions.
3. Set car free zone. People wanting to enter the zones must use public
transport. Of course the government must provide parking spaces but this
proved to be effective in most cities in Europe and US.
4. Improve the public transport quality. I enjoy using public transport in Japan
since the public transport are really convenient to use. By using this kind of
public transportation, people willingness of taking a bus to transport will
increase. They will take bus, that definitely will reduce the private vehicles on the
street.

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Perkembangan Jumlah Kendaraan Bermotor Menurut Jenis tahun 1987-2013.
Diakses: 30 August 2015