Public Transportation, Important Issues That Escape The Vision Of The 2024 Vice Presidential Candidate's Vision

Transjakarta electric buses park at the Bianglala Metropolitan bus depot, Ciputat, South Tangerang, Banten, Thursday (23/11/2023). (Between/Suci Nurhaliza/aa)

JAKARTA Public transportation provides benefits for the people of Indonesia. Starting from cost savings, unraveling congestion, to having an impact on health. In addition, public transportation is also considered to be an important part of Indonesia Gold 2045.

Uneven public transportation has been a problem in Indonesia for a long time. According to the Deputy Chairperson of the Empowerment and Development of the Indonesian Transportation Society Region (MTI) of the Central Djoko Setijowarno, the procurement of public transportation in Indonesia is uneven and only focuses on the island of Java.

Djoko hopes that three presidential and presidential candidates, namely Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar, Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka, and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD can resolve public transportation issues that have often been discussed in Indonesia.

Unfortunately, the three presidential and vice presidential candidates who will fight in the 2024 presidential election are considered to be less indifferent regarding transportation and safety on the road.

This was stated by the Executive Director of the Institute for Transportation Studies or Instran, Deddy Herlambang, the three candidates only focused on physical-looking infrastructure development, such as the construction of toll roads, airports, and ports.

In fact, the transportation problem in Indonesia is not only about that, but also about road safety which actually escapes their ideas.

The number of accidents every day always increases. Whoever the president is, the number of accidents on the road has never dropped. Of the three Paslons, there has been no idea to reduce accidents," he said, quoted from Tempo.

Road accidents are the second largest cause of death after heart disease. Deddy said, there were 22 thousand people dying from accidents per year and 70 to 80 percent of that number was an accident due to a motorbike.

Regarding Anies-Muhaimin's vision and mission regarding transportation, Deddy assessed that the programs provided only reflect on DKI Jakarta. In fact, it cannot necessarily be applied in other areas. Deddy also criticized Anies' idea of building a train in Kalimantan, because according to him further studies were needed.

"Anies wants to build a train in Kalimantan, how about the demand. Who wants to go up. If it's in Jabodetabek, many will definitely ride. If in Kalimantan who will ride? " he said.

Deddy also criticized Prabowo-Gibran's promise which would provide legal certainty for online motorcycle taxis or Ojol to be recognized as public transportation if they were elected to the RI1 seat. According to him, this promise is nothing more than just making ojol a political commodity.

"There are a lot of Ojol. In Jabodetabek alone, the number is 1 million. It can be used as a political commodity," he said.

Deddy said it was impossible to recognize Ojol as public transportation due to safety considerations. Moreover, it is known that 80 percent of accidents occur on motorbikes. Deddy is worried that the risk of road safety will increase if Ojol is inaugurated as public transportation.

Ojol, said Deddy, is not public transportation because it is private transportation that can only carry one passenger. In addition, the ratification of Ojol as public transportation will actually add to new problems.

Mass transportation such as trains, buses, and public transportation will be increasingly competitive with Ojol. The segmentation of mass transportation will be disrupted by Ojol. Moreover, Prabowo-Gibran promised to make mass transportation rates cheap.

"If one (Ojol) is later inaugurated, the other (public transportation) will be made cheaper, yes, even more conflict," said Deddy.

Meanwhile, regarding the vision and mission of Ganjar-Mahfud, Deddy assessed that the number three pair did not present the new ideas offered by Ganjar-Mahfud. Deddy regretted that the vision and mission given was still reflecting on transportation in big cities, especially in DKI Jakarta.

Don't be trapped using Jakarta as a transportation laboratory. In other cities, it is also necessary for laboratory offices. In NTT, for example, it can be used as a laboratory because there is no road yet," said Deddy.

Djoko also expressed the same thing, which said that Indonesia was experiencing a public transportation crisis and traffic safety emergency. Djoko said that public transportation development, such as trains, is still centered in Java, including thefeedingsh fast train, Jabodebek LRT, Jakarta MRT, activation of the route to Garut, Yogyakarta-Solo electric rail train.

"There is no traffic safety program in all presidential and vice presidential candidates," Djoko told VOI.

"There is no target for the number of cities to fix public transportation from the three pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates. Hopefully, the public transport program will not only provide hope, of course, and also reality," said Djoko.

Djoko Setijowarno highlighted the track record of three candidates in dealing with transportation problems. Presidential Candidate number one Anies Baswedan is experienced in managing Transjakarta Buses with a subsidy value of IDR 4.3 trillion per year and can reach 88 percent of the Jakarta area.

Meanwhile, the Vice Presidential Candidate number two Gibran Rakabuming Raka set aside Rp. 15 billion from the APBD to subsidize the Solo Trans (BST) Batik Bus. Meanwhile, Ganjar Prabowo also manages Transjanteng Buses in 2023 by disbursing subsidies of Rp. 104 billion from the Central Java Provincial Budget.

According to Djoko, Anies' experience as Governor of DKI Jakarta is the capital for him to know the details of transportation problems in big cities. However, Djoko also underlined that Anies' success in managing transportation in the capital city could not be separated from his previous role.

"Without the previous governor, Anies couldn't possibly continue, because the transportation program took at least 5 years. That's if it works, if it fails? Anies has been chosen to be comfortable, the busway 13 corridor has been built. The pedestrians during the Ahok era have been built, just keep going on, "said Djoko.

For pair number two, Djoko highlighted Gibran who was considered to have more experience in managing transportation than Prabowo. Understandably, Gibran has been in charge of Solo for more than two years.

Djoko did not deny that public transportation in Solo was successful thanks to the role of the Solo City Transportation Service which was strong. In addition, he said Solo is the only Indonesian city where transportation generally has legal entities in accordance with the law.

Finally, Ganjar is considered to have experience similar to Anies, which is experienced in managing Transjateng Buses. Djoko hopes that similar programs can be developed in all provinces in Indonesia.

The successful province besides DKI Jakarta is Central Java. Transjanteng buses have 7 corridors now. People just pay Rp 4,000, for student workers only Rp 2,000. This program can be developed throughout the province," said Djoko again.