Regarding Congestion In Jakarta, Observers: There Must Be Improvement Of Public Transportation In The Capital Opportunities

JAKARTA - Congestion in DKI Jakarta continues to occur today. Various things have also been said by a number of groups, including Transportation Observer Djoko Setijowarno.

Djoko assessed that the congestion that occurred could not be separated from the role of residents around the buffer zone who were active in DKI Jakarta, but still used a lot of private vehicles.

"Even though there is already a Commuter Line KRL and soon (the plan for July 2023) will operate the Jabodebek LRT, in fact it has not been able to reduce congestion in Jakarta," he said in an official statement received by VOI, Wednesday, February 22.

In addition, said Djoko, the condition of public transportation in Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (Bodetabek) is not as good as the city of Jakarta, so there are still many residents who choose to use their private vehicles.

"The improvement of public transportation is only in two cities, namely Trans Pakuan in Bogor City and Tran Ayo in Tangerang City. Meanwhile, access to public transportation other than the two cities is still far behind, there is even no attempt by the local government to fix it," he said.

According to Djoko, the annual routine budget for assistance from the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government which is given to the Regency/Pemkot in Bodetabek can be focused on fixing public transportation in each Bodetabek area.

So that it can accelerate the transfer of public transportation modes from private vehicles to mass public transportation.

"So, there is no reason for fiscal difficulties, it remains the extent of the commitment of regional heads in Bodetabek to really want to fix public transportation in their area," said Djoko.

He gave an example of one of the local governments in Bodetabek who had been given assistance by BPTJ to fix the general transportation conditions, but was rejected on the grounds that he was more concerned with assistance for the construction of new road infrastructure which was considered to be able to overcome congestion so far.

"If you look at the construction of a massive toll road network in Jakarta, the addition of road capacity cannot overcome congestion, it will increase the population of vehicles owned," said Djoko.

Therefore, Djoko continued, strong synergy is needed between the central government and local governments to accelerate the implementation of public transportation improvements in the Bodetabek Region.

"The efficiency of Public Service Obligation (PSO) KRL Commuter Line with several scenarios carried out by the Directorate General of Railways was obtained at around Rp208 billion-Rp475 billion. The budget for PSO's efficiency results can be used to fix public transportation in Bodetabek, so that it can encourage Bodetabek residents working in Jakarta to switch to public transportation," he concluded.