Jakarta LRT Passengers Still Quiet, 27 People Per Travel, Directors: This Is Our Challenge

PT LRT Jakarta admits that passenger occupancy on the operation of the Pegangsaan Dua' Velodrome route is still low, with an average of only 27 passengers on a single trip.

President Director of PT LRT Jakarta Roberto Akyuwen explained that the capacity of a series of two carriages has reached 270 people. However, the occupancy rate has only approached 10 percent, so the average daily passenger is only around 3,579 people.

"The maximum capacity of one train series is 270 people. The occupancy is only close to 10 percent. So from the capacity of 270 people, an average of about 27 people go one way. This is our challenge," Roberto told reporters, Thursday, November 27.

In the midst of this situation, Roberto claims that the Jakarta LRT maintains the quality of service and holds a number of activities to increase public interest in using their services.

He targets the Jakarta LRT service to be able to carry 1.2 million passengers by the end of 2025. Currently, the number of passengers in the Jakarta LRT has reached 1 million people with an average daily average of 3,579 passengers.

"Currently we reach an average of approximately 3,579 people per day. Or per day the total has reached more than 1 million passengers. Our target every year is approximately 1.2 million, and God willing, it will be achieved this year," he said.

In this regard, Roberto said that the company's revenue still relies heavily on subsidies from the DKI Regional Budget. Currently, about 94 percent of Jakarta's LRT revenue comes from subsidies.

Meanwhile, the contribution from ticket revenue is only 2 percent because the tariff set on the Pegangsaan Dua-Velodrome route is IDR 5,000. Then, non-ticket or non-farebox revenue only accounts for about 4 percent.

Thus, Roberto hopes that efforts to increase non-ticket income will be driven starting next year or after the 1B phase route which will continue the train journey to Manggarai Station, including the target of an increase in net profit of up to 67 percent compared to this year.

"We hope that with the addition of the Velodrome-Manggarai route and the next routes, dependence on subsidies can be significantly reduced," he said.

It is known, as many as 6 LRT Jakarta stations have so far operated with a length of 5.2 kilometers in phase 1, namely Pegangsaan two, North Boulevard Station, South Boulevard Station, Pulomas Station, Equestrian Station, and Velodrome Station.

Currently, the 1B phase of the Jakarta LRT is being built which has a strip of 6.4 kilometers. This route has 5 stations, namely Rawamangun Youth Station, BPKP Scout Station, Matraman Station Scout Market Station, and Manggarai Station.

The 1B phase of the Jakarta LRT project costs around Rp. 5.3 trillion, which includes consultant costs, licensing, and construction. If phase 1B has been built, the Jakarta LRT has a route length of 12.2 kilometers with 11 stations ranging from Pegangsaan Dua Station to Manggarai Station.