Users of TransJakarta busway services must prepare for a bitter reality. Their misery will continue for at least another year after the Jakarta City Administration and the Jakarta Legislative Council did not allocate adequate funds to purchase enough buses to resolve shortages.
As an immediate impact, busway users will spend lengthy waits at busway stations and remain sweaty on overcrowded buses. With such conditions, we cannot expect significant numbers of motorists to use the public transportation. And as a further consequence, the chaotic traffic will continue along the city’s overburdened roads.
The Jakarta city legislative council on Nov. 30 approved Rp 24.67 trillion (US$2.48 billion) for the 2010 city budget, Rp 710 billion more than this year’s budget. The city transportation sector receives nearly Rp 2 trillion from the total budget, including Rp 270 billion allocated for the purchase of about 125 buses to be deployed along the two latest-unused busway corridors, IX and X. This means there are no additional buses for the other corridors.
Regrettably, there are city councilors who are unhappy with the fund allocation to purchase buses for the TransJakarta busway. “We don’t want the purchase of TransJakarta buses to burden the city budget,” Hardi said, spokesman of the Democrat party at the City Council, while delivering his party’s stance on the city budget. He suggested the purchases of such buses should be the responsibility of the private sector.
Councilors know exactly that taxes from the transportation sector, particularly from vehicle owners, contribute to nearly 40 percent of the city’s total revenue.
Therefore, it is fair if the transportation sector receives significant funds so the city can improve services for road users.
The budget spending of Rp 2 trillion for the transportation sector, which is allocated to road repair, maintenance of busway infrastructure, development of bus stations and preparation for mass rapid transit (MRT) construction, is far from appropriate if we consider the contribution of road users to the city revenue of nearly Rp 10 trillion.
The city needs a breakthrough to address the daily traffic chaos that sparks various problems – worsening air pollution, time consumption and frustration for travelers, as well as economic inefficiency, to name a few. We really hope that policy makers will be more serious in addressing this acute problem to end the misery of road users, the main contributors of the city revenue.
Improving services of public transportation is the key answer to the challenges. It can start by deploying many more buses in all 10 busway corridors to ensure that public transport operates with much better services. We believe that improving public transport will benefit not only its users, but also other road users, including motorists. If more motorists shift to public transport, the road burden will ease across the city.
