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ity-owned PT Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Jakarta has engaged Go-Jek Indonesia to transport passengers to and from MRT stations, a move that has been criticized for discouraging people from using public transportation.

The cooperation between the MRT and Go-Jek materialized after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at PT MRT Jakarta’s office in Central Jakarta on Tuesday.

MRT Jakarta president director William Sabandar said the company aimed to engage various transportation modes in the area to increase passengers’ mobility.

Since the first phase of the MRT project only covered 16 kilometers from Hotel Indonesia traffic circle to Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta, the MRT would engage other parties to surpass the target of 173,400 passengers per day, William added.

Passengers can use the MRT and continue their journey to their destinations with Go-Jek.

A single payment system would be created to enable Go-Jek passengers to pay for MRT tickets through one integrated application, William said. “The MRT will become the backbone of the transportation mode, so we hope Go-Jek will not serve passengers in the MRT lane.”

He added that the company would instead provide an area where Go-Jek drivers could pick up and drop off passengers.

Therefore, the activities of online ojek (motorcycle taxi) in the station area would be more organized, William said.

Go-Jek is a fast growing company with 22 million users per month. It has more than one million drivers and facilitates more than 100 million transactions each month.

Go-Jek president Andre Soelistyo said the partnership would be beneficial to passengers given Go-Jek’s wide coverage.

Drivers would also get more passengers because they would only serve short trip orders, he added. “We’re excited to see the impact of the partnership.”

To develop non-fare revenue, the MRT has plans to collaborate with Go-Jek’s food delivery service Go-Food. Go-Jek drivers will be able to pick up food from merchants at MRT stations.

Besides that, the MRT is planning to auction the name of stations to obtain more revenue.

“We will give the owners of the buildings around the station a chance to participate in the auction. The company with the best offer will get the naming rights,” William said.

He added that profit from the auction would be used to cross-subsidize ticketing, train maintenance and operations.

Last year, MRT Jakarta said the price for a train ticket would be set at Rp 17,000 (US$1.20) without subsidies. The company and the government have yet to determine the fare.

Jakarta Transportation Council member Tory Damantoro said it was understandable that MRT Jakarta engaged Go-Jek because the company wanted to make sure that it achieved its passenger target. “Should the administration fail to integrate the transportation system, the station will be filled by online ojek, like what has occurred at Palmerah and Sudirman stations. Traffic congestion will remain despite the MRT’s development,” Tory added.

Meanwhile, Institute of Transportation and Development Policy country director Yoga Adiwinarto said MRT Jakarta should have collaborated with Transjakarta, not Go-Jek.

Transjakarta had a lot of passengers, so buses should be used to take passengers to and from MRT stations, Yoga added.