Jakarta Strives to Reduce Transportation Costs
Intermodal integration and transit-oriented development are crucial in reducing transportation costs and persuading residents to use public transportation.
Passengers waiting for the train to stop at Tanah Abang Station, Central Jakarta, Friday (16/12/2022).
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The Jakarta administration continues to seek solutions to reduce transportation costs for its residents. Currently, the average resident still needs to spend 20 percent of their monthly income to use public transportation or private vehicles. Transportation integration is crucial to reduce these costs.
Jakarta Transportation Agency head Syafrin Liputo said on Wednesday (14/12/2022) that high transportation costs (for both public and private transportation) cannot be divorced from the impact of traffic congestion. It costs around 20 percent of a resident’s monthly income, which is a large amount spent for only transportation.
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A survey by the Jakarta City Transportation Council (DTKJ) with the Jakarta Transportation Agency and PT Jaklingko in 2021 found that more than half of 1,523 respondents spent Rp 500,000 (US$32) per month for transportation.
Moreover, as much as 45.6 percent of respondents spent between Rp 500,000 to Rp 1 million for private vehicles, online motorcycle taxis and online taxis before using public transportation. Meanwhile, the rest of the respondents spent more than Rp 1 million.
Using the regional average minimum wage (UMR) for 2021 in Greater Jakarta as a benchmark, salaries workers earned in that year was Rp 4,382,343 per month. Some residents paid Rp 1 million to 1.5 million per month for public and private transportation, meaning their transportation costs took up about 20 percent of their monthly income.
The World Bank recommends that only a maximum of 10 percent of monthly income should be used for transportation costs.
“The World Bank recommends that only a maximum of 10 percent of monthly income should be used for transportation costs. Only then can it be said that a resident lives comfortably in a city,” said Syafrin.
The Jakarta administration is aiming to reduce transportation costs to below single digits or at least lower than the World Bank’s recommendation.
Good news reflected in the DKTJ survey is that spending for public transportation use is relatively small. For a one-way trip using public transportation in Jakarta, 36.6 percent of respondents said they only needed Rp 5,000 to Rp 10,000, while 20.5 percent of respondents said they needed Rp 2,000 to Rp 5,000. Furthermore, 18.9 percent of respondents needed Rp 10,000 to Rp 5,000, 12.5 percent needed Rp 15,000 to Rp 20,000 and the remaining 11.5 percent spent more than Rp 20,000.
Traffic congestion on Jalan Jati Baru Raya, Central Jakarta, Thursday (15/12/2022).
Daniya (26), a resident of Bekasi, is grateful for the cheap public transportation costs in Jakarta. Every working day, she takes the Transjakarta bus to reach her office in the Sudirman area. Employees who are paid around 1.5 times the Jakarta minimum wage spend less than Rp 20,000 to reach home.
Rikobimo Ridjal Badri, a member of the DTKJ tariff and financing commission said on Friday (16/12) that optimizing use of public transportation can help reduce the percentage of transportation cost per month to at least 18 percent.
This recommendation was taken into consideration when Jaklingko launched its fare integration program, a public transportations service system in Jakarta that includes three modes of transportation, namely the Jaklingko angkot (public minivans), Transjakarta buses and the Jakarta MRT. Starting this year, the fare for residents using the MRT together with two or one of the other modes of transportation within three hours costs a maximum of Rp 10,000.
“The Jakarta administration has tried to provide a bundling rate of Rp 10,000 per three hours. If that works, then costs can drop to almost 18 percent per month,” said Syafrin.
Lack of urgency
For some commuters, however, the low fares are not enticing enough to take public transportation. Irsyah (24), a resident of Kramatjati, East Jakarta, for example, prefers riding a motorcycle to her work at a confectionery shop in Senen, Central Jakarta, every day.
“It’s more convenient and cost effective. I only need to full up 1 liter of fuel a day and I spend less than Rp 20,000 a day,” he said.
The expenditure is equivalent to the cost of a two-way trip on public transportation. In fact, it might even cost more because she has to take an angkot instead of Jaklingko, which has been more costly due to rising fuel prices. “The costs are covered even with an income of Rp 100,000 per day,” he said.
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The results of a survey by Kompas Litbang, the research arm of Kompas daily, on Nov. 15-17, 2022, also showed similar results. As many as 434 respondents out of 504 (86.1%) in Greater Jakarta said that the increase in fuel prices had no effect on them. As many as 13.3 percent of respondents still use private vehicles, even if only occasionally. Only 0.06 percent said that the increase in fuel prices had made them switch to buses, taxis or motorcycle taxis.
According to the Jakarta Transportation Agency, although various modes of public transport reach 83 percent of Jakarta’s population within a 500 meter radius, it has not been fully utilized by the people.
A Kompas analysis in early 2022 (Kompas.id, 3/2/2022) found that public transportation only reaches about 26.2 percent of the population of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (Bodetabek).
For this reason, fare integration is indeed a step forward but it must be followed by the integration of public transportation and service to expand to the Bodetabek area. Trisakti University urban observer and lecturer, Yayat Surpiatna, has urged the central and regional governments of Greater Jakarta to focus on building transit-oriented cities to address traffic jams in Indonesia’s largest agglomeration.
This article was translated by Kesya Adhalia.
