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The recent debate about the severe traffic congestion experienced by road users in Jakarta should actually end with the statement from the vice president’s office on Thursday that identified 17 priority programs for the city’s transportation infrastructure, ranging from a simple reorganization of the on-street parking system and the existing public bus network to a complicated implementation of an Electronic Road Pricing system. Vice President Boediono also called for a speedier implementation of the long-awaited Mass Rapid Transit system.

The MRT Jakarta is an idea that has been around since the mid-1970s. It has been touted as the answer to Jakarta’s traffic problems, yet almost developed into a never-ending discussion because of the exceptionally large initial investment needed and low financial returns from fare revenues.

The first phase of the latest system came with the hefty price tag of Rp 1 trillion ($111 million) for each kilometer of track, which will eventually span a 14.5 km route that runs both underground and above ground.

Investment for the project came from a loan provided by the Japanese government, which is being channeled through the central government to Jakarta’s provincial administration by way of a grant mechanism.

Treated as a subsidiary company of city-owned Pasar Jaya, the company managing the MRT is basically a fully private company having a relatively flexible financial arrangement.

However, the issue here is whether the MRT can help to relieve the capital’s transportation woes by stemming the congestion on the roads.

This question is important because we need to make sure that by 2016 — as has been promised by the project manager — we have a fully operational mass transit system.

Let us look at some transportation statistics for the Greater Jakarta area. In the 2010 census, the population of Jakarta and Greater Jakarta was recorded at 9.5 million and 27.5 million respectively.

Jakarta’s limited road network accommodates 20 million to 24 million trips every day, and in the Greater Jakarta, the number of commuters per day ranges from 40 million to 45 million, of which between four million and 5.4 million commute to and from the capital from its satellite cities.

The completed MRT Jakarta is expected to carry 650,000 passengers per day, or only about 3 percent of the total commuters in Jakarta.

When we compare it with the total trips in Greater Jakarta, the percentage is almost too small to mention.

When it comes to operational costs, the MRT Jakarta will require at least an Rp 85 billion subsidy commitment from the provincial administration for 10 consecutive years after its opening.

So why spend so much money and put our faith in an MRT system? There is no easy answer to that question.

The TransJakarta busway system certainly has a cost advantage, currently serving 3 percent of commuters in Jakarta. The Kereta Api commuter rail network for Greater Jakarta carries another 3.5 percent.

Together, the three mass-transit systems will serve a maximum of 10 percent of total commuters. So the key for improving public transportation lies in the ability to integrate the current regular bus services with the busway, commuter rail and MRT networks.

It is not each individual system running separate services that will provide an answer; we need several systems that can work together as an integrated public transportation system.

Integration means also an integration among public transport operations in different districts and cities — in Jakarta and its satellite cities.

Without such integration, we will not be able to see the full potential of having a mass transit system aimed at serving at least 65 percent of all commuters.

A mass transit system like the MRT should be treated as the backbone to other existing public transportation systems, and offer speed and reliability at a competitive cost compared with motorcycles and cars.

It has been well documented that the subsidized fuel costs mean that owning a motorcycle is cheaper than using public transportation, and low parking fees in the city, and relative comfort, make private cars a much more attractive option.

Therefore, the next important step is to ensure that parking fees are adjusted and subsidized fuel prices gradually eliminated in order to have a level playing field for the MRT.

The costs associated with the vehicles creating the traffic congestion should rationally be charged to private car and motorcycle users in a user-pays system.

Even with such a massive effort, we will still see the MRT Jakarta run at a loss, creating additional cost pressures on the provincial government. East Asian cities have important lessons on how to financially sustain MRT operations.

East Asian cities like Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei and Shanghai are high-density cities where land for offices, residential and shopping areas is a scarce resource.

That is why they are developing an innovative combination of transport and property development to financially support their MRT operations.

In Tokyo, for example, the revenue shared from property development is typically 50 percent. In Hong Kong, a recent annual report revealed that while fare revenue could not cover its MRT’s operational costs, it generated a surplus due to property development revenue.

The estimated non-fare revenue for the MRT Jakarta is currently set at 7 percent, far too low to sustain the operation.

The company and the provincial government should focus on extending the service to the less developed regions of Greater Jakarta to take advantage of land development potential.

The ability to increase land value is the biggest strength of the MRT, and therefore such an opportunity should not be missed.

So, can we put our faith in the MRT Jakarta? I suppose we can if the operator and provincial and central governments treat the MRT as a key component in overhauling the city’s public transportation system and spatial development, and not just as a separate project.

If it works in other East Asian cities, surely it can work for us.

 
Danang Parikesit is a professor of transportation studies at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta and the president of the Indonesian Transport Society (MTI). He can be reached at dparikesit@ugm.ac.id.