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Jokowi eyes Java-wide public transport renewal
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo envisions public transportation renewal across Java in a bid to attract consumers away from private car purchases.
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President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo talks to The Jakarta Post's journalists during an interview at the Presidential Palace, Jakarta, on Nov. 2. (JP/Abdur Rahim)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo envisions public transportation renewal across Java Island in a bid to attract consumers away from private car purchases.
In an exclusive interview with The Jakarta Post on Nov. 2, the commander-in-chief said that if connectivity between cities in Java was revitalized with more advanced public transportation, then the island would be "united as a single city with a population of 149 million”.
"So, when I want to go to Surabaya and to Bandung in the quickest time, I would not prefer private cars due to the traffic jams. I would use [fast] trains, which only take around 35 minutes. This is the mindset that needs to be instilled," the President said.
For this new system to work, the government would not resort to only a single type of public transportation, President Jokowi said, as he has studied transportation systems in Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
After the near-completion of Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, the government has announced the extension of this megaproject toward the far east of the island in Surabaya, the capital of East Java province.
Currently, state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) already operates several classes of trains from Surabaya to Jakarta, and from Jakarta to Bandung.
“I am indeed very pro-mass transportation, but mass transportation can't only use one type. Definitely more [forms of public transportation are needed],” Jokowi continued, "This is a circle that mimics the web of a spider, in that the route should be spread."
