New Normal, Beware Of Passenger Overflow In Public Transportation

JAKARTA - Transportation observer and member of the Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI) West Java, Muhamad Isnaeni, assessed that the government must make a plan to anticipate an overflow of passengers on public transport ahead of the implementation of The New Normal or the new normal.

Isnaeni said this plan needed to be done to prevent transmission of the virus in public transportation. He assessed that the government must make it mature, not just the application of health protocols.

"The new normality in the future in Jabodetabek, because of the application of the physical distancing protocol or maintaining 50 percent physical distance (quota in transportation), there needs to be an emergency plan in case of a buildup of urban transportation," he said, in a video conference with journalists, Wednesday, May 27.

According to Isnaeni, there needs to be special handling which is socialized in various public transportation. The goal is that people are aware of maintaining physical distance.

Moreover, he continued, transportation is a derivative requirement so that activities that will be opened in the future must also be carried out in stages. One example, the application of working hours can be arranged every other day to reduce transport capacity.

"The company protocol must have employee insulation, then enter every two days, which can reduce the capacity of the transport," he said.

As is known, currently public transportation operations are enforced in accordance with large-scale social restrictions (PSBB). Various modes of transportation such as KRL, Transjakarta, MRT to LRT limit their operating hours with a much longer waiting time and reduce the number of fleets.

To prevent the transmission of COVID-19 in a vehicle, physical distancing rules are implemented by placing a no-sitting sign and insulation on available seats. The queue was arranged at various distances.

The Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub) is preparing a land transportation implementation scheme in the new normal period. One of the possible changes is regarding changes in rates.

Director of Road Transportation Facilities at the Directorate General of Land Transportation, Ministry of Transportation, Sigit Irfansyah, explained that the tariff case cannot be separated from the load factor. In the new normal, the limitation on transport capacity will still apply as much as 50 percent of the total available seats.

Sigit admits that this decision will have an impact on operator operating costs. The Ministry of Transportation has not yet determined when the certainty for the new tariff will be enforced, including the operating pattern that will be applied. However, what is clear, discussions are underway.

In addition, continued Sigit, the ticket buying and selling mechanism will also change. So far, he admits that it is difficult to implement online ticketing obligations for land transportation, especially inter-city inter-provincial buses (AKAP).

"We encourage speeding up with cashless. Previously speaking, public transport on the AKAP bus was very difficult, everyone came to the terminal, transactions at the terminal," he explained.

According to Sigit, with this pagebluk, like it or not, like it or not, the transaction tradition at the terminal is eliminated. This means that buying and selling of tickets will be done online.

"In the future, with this condition, whether we want it or not, we will implement it, speed up the process. If the toll road is successful, AKAP is still not successful, the process is still slow," he said.