Jakarta Busway: A Success Story?

The turn of the year was marked by the opening of two busway corridors extending the coverage of the city transport to the southeast-northwest Jakarta corners and the south-north axis of the eastern parts of Jakarta.

This event was relatively significant as the operation of these corridors (9 and 10) make the Jakarta citizens easily move around the city only with Rp3,500 (40 cents US$) through the connection with the existing busway networks. The passengers can even spend less (Rp2,000) as long as they travel before 07.00 am.

The idea to operate busway was initiated in 1997 inspired by Bogota busway in Colombia as an exemplary model. In this system, the bus was given an exclusive lane on the roads that are part of the busway route. Transjakarta started operations in the early of 2004 to provide faster, convenient, yet affordable transportation means for the Jakarta citizens.

There were skeptical attitude and opposition against the introduction of busway as an alternative public transport in Jakarta. A new idea always gets opposition from a part of the society especially those who are skeptical. You may remember how the similar skeptical attitude rose when the police department issued the rule mandating motorcyclists to wear helmets in the early 1980s. Kompas described the people discontentment against such rule through a caricature depicting a motorcyclist bearing a rice basket upside down on his head in order to observe the rule.

But the reluctance toward the introduction of busway was not without reason. Most of Jakarta roads are narrow clogged with cars and would be even worse if they are reduced by the busway lanes. Actually, there are several problems the operators have to solve, among others the lack of buses during the peak hours, lack of AC in some bus shelters, CNG usage as busway fuel, and the external problem such as private cars flocking the lanes.

There are a total of 97 kilometers of busway lanes and 120 bus shelters built along the lanes. As many as 270 single and 16 double-buses are in operation carrying around 250,000 passengers daily. From those figures, some of them are from motorcyclists and car owners who regularly shift using the busway keeping their vehicles at home.


With the aim to improve the service and to cut down the subsidy, in 2007 the city government, supported by local House members, planned to double the tariff to Rp 7,000. The plan was dropped as some NGOs were sternly against it. This certainly burdens the city budget and reducing the city capability to construct the remaining 5 corridors as it was planned. 

The planned tariff hike could be too high, and to avoid the turmoil the increase should be implemented in a gradual way. And to reduce the burden of frequent passengers, the city should issue busway subscription cards with reasonably lower rates. 

But one is for certain; the sustainability of the busway operation should be maintained. The city should provide sufficient funds for the operation and maintenance by balancing the rate of the tariffs with the financial capability of the city government to provide subsidies. 

And last but not least, the management should pay enough attention to the welfare of the drivers and related workers so they would have a sense of belonging and are proud of their profession. It is so simple and easy to say but in reality, it requires a strong political will and a lot of support from all stakeholders to execute such things in a realistic way.

Despite many criticisms and the inconvenience of the private vehicles due to the operation of this busway, from the point of view of the passengers, they feel quite comfortable because of a cheaper tariff, more efficient and less frustrated due to the avoidance of traffic congestion. Hopefully, Transjakarta will meet the expectations to become a public transportation means, which is integrated, comfortable, well managed and become a good long term solution for managing Jakarta traffic congestion.

Traffic Problems Need Urgent Solution

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Jakarta with its population of 9.5 million and around 3.5 million commuters who come from the surrounding areas certainly cause headache traffic problems. Road and highways are packed with cars, buses, and motorcycles. 

This situation becomes worse as the passengers are not quite disciplined. We can see the consequences of this attitude when a traffic light malfunctioned which caused serious traffic jam with the very long queue of vehicles. Each passenger tries to pass over the others making cars-interlocking which blocks the vehicles to move.  

At some crossroads, the regulations of traffic lights are imbalanced. We can be surprised to see the length of red light time before we are given the green light to pass. We can find that the countdown of the red to green lights is very long at one side, while at the other side it is very short allowing only two or three vehicles to pass through causing a very long queue at that direction.  

One of the solutions that the city government has implemented was the ‘three-in-one’ regulation. This applies for protocol roads which permit only cars with three passengers to enter these roads during the peak hours. However, in these protocol roads, the police often block the vehicles from slow track entering the main track even though it is almost empty causing a heavy traffic jam in the slow track.  It seems that the police are indifferent toward the situation.

Another solution that the city government likes to apply is the idea to restrict the motorcycles entering some major lanes. It seems that they are panic of not deeply considering the vital importance of motorcycles as a mode of the people’s transportation for economics. The mobility of those people using motorcycles is equal or even faster to those who are using cars. We can imagine how many cars they are replacing to have the same mobility in contributing to the progress of the economy.

Generally speaking, the problem of traffic lights is attributed to the lack of a centralized traffic control system. The Jakarta Transportation Agency lacks a centralized traffic control system to automatically detect malfunctioning or any broken traffic lights, which often exacerbate Jakarta’s chronic traffic jams. It is because the traffic lights at every junction have their own controllers, which are programmed manually to time the lights according to the flow of traffic during different times of the day.

Without a comprehensive system to monitor traffic lights, it is impossible to automatically detect malfunctioning or blacked-out traffic-lights, which are usually caused by power failure. The problem is reverberated by the poor condition of some traffic lights because they have been too old and are now worn out. 

Seventeen Ways to Overcome Traffic Jam in Jakarta

Because of these acute traffic problems some people are proposing an idea to remove the state capital out of Jakarta to somewhere else outside Java. The traffic problems that Jakarta, as the state capital, encounters draw the attention of the central government. The central government is willing to assist the city government to cope with the problem by providing comprehensive planning and budgeting that it requires.  

The central government, c.q. the Vice President has appointed Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Chairman of the Presidential Unit Monitoring and Control Development, to be responsible to overcome the whole problems comprehensively. Currently, the government prepares 17 initial steps to solve the problem of the loss of time, fuel oil and cars’ engine working power.

One of the steps is to apply the electronic road pricing (ERP), the road user-pay system, which will take effect immediately. Other steps are the sterilization of the bus-way route  (which is now already underway); increase bus-way lanes; restructure  the small fleet public transportation; add the shuttle trains and double tracks in Jabodetabek; integrate the Jakarta inner railway project with mass transportation; construct six elevated lanes and highways in Jakarta; start to build Mass Rapid Transit (MRT); review the parking policy and build the parking area in the railway station to reduce long-range vehicle usage; improve the utilization of natural gas for transportation.

We are looking forward to the successful realization of those planning.

Motorcycle Traffic Restriction?

The DKI Jakarta government’s discourse to limit the total number of motorcycles as well as to restrict the motorcycle traffic, by prohibiting the drivers passing through certain lanes in Jakarta, has created a heated number of polemics with those who are pros and cons.

Those who agree with the discourse point out that motorcycle accidents are increasing because their total amount almost is as many as the city residents. Being undisciplined while riding motorcycles and being too many on the roads during peak hours has caused an ever-increasing traffic jam.

On the contrary, those who are cons say that the motorcycle drivers, who are mostly from low class and credited with triggering the national economic activities will even suffer by being forced to ride on public transportation which is time-consuming and extra-cost spending in buying fares of city transport.

It should be underlined that the motorcycle as a mode of transportation is very effective and efficient from the point of view cost and benefit. It is unimaginable how crowded and dizzy the traffic would be if all of those motorcycle drivers should drive cars like those who are the haves. Not to mention how much the nation will spend more foreign exchange to import cars and additional gasoline consumption.

It is in this context that the decision should be made. We have not to punish those who are economically more efficient, who are sacrificing their comfort and sometimes endangering their lives in the middle of heavy traffic, and last but not least empowering the national economy.

Now, what is the best we have to do facing this dilemma?

Despite the pros and cons, it seems that the local government will launch the first trial to prohibit motorcycle passing through the lane of Blok M-Kota after the Lebaran Day (in less than one month period). The reason is that public transports are available and the presence of motorcycles frequently triggers the traffic jam. The plan, however, will be discussed more with Metropolitan police and city government. We hope that the discussion will not only cover the implementation but also further consideration of go or no-go of those plans.

One of the way-outs that can be suggested is to construct a special lane, mainly in busy roads, for motorcycles to reduce both accidents and traffic jam. If it is difficult and expensive to realize then to alternate time-schedule for motorcycles and cars during the peak hours to enter certain areas, say, for example, 06.00 to 07.00 exclusively for motorcycles, 07.00 to 08.00 for cars, and 17.00 to 18.00 and 18.00 to 19.00 respectively in the evening.

Some observers even have crazy and unrealistic idea pointing out that it is better to suggest people to buy and operate bikes rather than motorbikes because bikes do not consume fuel nor do they cause pollution. But how come that people who mostly from suburbs (Botabek) have to come to Jakarta by bikes?

Saving More Time More Money

Related to the economic attitude, most motor-bikers point out that it is only a matter of being economical to take a motorbike rather than city buses or Transjakarta, especially when they have to go to many places located in the areas where it is difficult for small car, let alone a city bus, to pass through. A motorbike can pass a very small and circuitous road.

In the case there is traffic jam, it is much easier for the motorbike to move forward as compared to the buses, and therefore, will save much worthwhile time.

For those sidewalk traders who are in high mobility, saving much time in every day working is a serious matter, because by doing so they can have more hours to work and gain more money as well.

Logical Consequence

The city government should not restrict the number of motorbikes because the owners are common people from the grass root. The drivers gain and save money from the use of motorcycles as mode of transportation and more importantly provide the trickle-down effects to the national economics. It is quite logical to reduce the total number of cars in Jakarta rather than motorbikes. Besides, the car owners have much more money related to their options to take any kinds of public transports.

The causal factors of traffic jam cannot be attributed to motorbikes because cars even take bigger spaces of all lanes and toll roads in Jakarta. Therefore, any idea of reducing the total amount of motorbikes or prohibiting them to pass the certain lanes in peak hours should be firmly rejected.

The inconvenience using public transportation is another consideration. The route of the public transportation is limited, the users of public transportation have to wait for certain time at certain shelters and pay they should pay extra money if they have to continue their journey to other destinations. When they come to the destination, is has been late to start working or doing business. So why should the city government reduce motorbikes?