[sustran] Re: Jakarta busway twists and turns?

[John Ernst]

If I can pick up this now dated thread on the Jakarta busway (with 
apologies, I was on vacation)...

I agree with the assessment that the Jakarta busway is in serious 
trouble.  It is also true that former Governor Sutiyoso forced the 
busway through.  (I still complement him for it because my guess is 
that going slow would have meant not going at all.)

I believe Jakarta holds the record as the shortest design and build 
time of any full BRT in the world.  (I would welcome hearing of other 
systems that might be contenders.)  Jakarta officially started 
planning in May of 2003. By early 2008 it will have about 200km of 
corridors, or an average of 40km per year from conception to 
operation.  By 'full BRT', I basically mean segregated lanes, raised 
platforms and pre-board fare collection, but we could niggle on mixed 
traffic sections of segregated corridors, etc. (Keep in mind that I 
am definitely talking about quantity here, not quality.)

One of the main consequences of Sutiyoso's rapid implementation is 
that there was little legal work completed.  There is no provision in 
law or regulation for the busway itself, it is actually a 
manipulation of normal bus route licenses.  The appropriation of road 
space for the busway is also a gray area.  My understanding is that 
because the busway does not have clear legal basis, the police 
consider it up to their discretion whether or not they enforce the corridors.

This year, one of the new corridors under construction is in a very 
wealthy area.  So, there have been a lot of complaints about losing 
road space for cars.  A lot of this is misunderstanding -- in that 
area the city will widen the road to preserve the same number of 
mixed traffic lanes, although narrower ones.  In the meantime, the 
police have reacted by opening more and more sections of bus lanes to 
mixed traffic.

ITDP is one group working to keep BRT on course in Jakarta.  We have 
this year begun working more with the police (city police in 
Indonesia are not under city government, but under a national police 
agency).  For example, we took a key member of the police to Bogota 
for the transit fair last month.

I agree fully with Carlos Pardo's comments (Nov 23) about the 
difficulty of convincing the public about BRT lanes.  Overall, this 
is an interesting problem in implementing BRT systems: the lanes 
often look empty.  When we see a photo of a BRT, it always has a bus 
or two in the lane, but between buses you see only 2-5 minutes of 
empty lane -- at least in closed systems without overlapping 
routes.  On the other hand, if the mixed traffic lanes are not 
congested, there is no reason to build segregated BRT lanes.

In a city like Jakarta, where for 20 years streets have been 
generally filled curb-to-curb, it is very hard to accept that a lane 
that looks empty could be carrying 10 or 20 times as many passengers 
as the ones that look chock-full.  You can imagine the pressure on 
the police officer on the street.

A lot needs to be done to improve the capacity and performance of the 
Jakarta busway.  Hopefully that will soon include returning to full 
enforcement of all busway corridors.  While several scenarios are 
possible, it's unlikely to fully happen until the 3 corridors now 
under construction start operating at full service.  If history is 
any guide, that could be around next June.

I hope this information is useful.  Sorry to be slow to pitch in.

Best,
John

At 11:09 PM 11/21/2007, you wrote:
>Evidence on the ground in Jakarta suggest that there is indeed cause for
>serious concern over the continued viability of Bus Rapid Transit in
>Jakarta. The history of excellent measures being scrapped due to problems of
>implementation is crowded enough to give one pause.
>
>The whole endeavor was basically forced through on the force of personality
>by Governor Sutiyoso loosely based on Transmilenio, Bogota. His gamble
>seemed a good one at the time: We can endure the hardship of construction
>and the initial decrease in the flow of traffic confident that in the
>medium-term, more people will take to the buses, even those with cars, and
>overall mobility as quantified and perceived will increase. The problem is
>that even Jakartans that one would expect to support the busway are now
>incensed at the dramatically worsening of conditions. They eagerly await
>what they perceive as the all but inevitable rolling back of the program and
>a return to the ever expanding asphalt approach to mobility.
>
>I am not aware of serious endeavors towards course correction but I will
>inquire a bit.
>
>Robert Cowherd, PhD, Associate Professor of Architecture
>Wentworth Institute of Technology 550 Huntington Ave. Boston, MA 02115 USA
>cowherdr at wit.edu; +1 617 989-4453
>
>
>On 11/21/07 8:43 AM, "Walter Hook" <whook at itdp.org> wrote:
>
> > John ernst tells me that several of the corridors have been open for some
> > time now during the construction, but that it is temporary.
> >
> > w
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: sustran-discuss-bounces+whook=itdp.org at list.jca.apc.org
> > [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+whook=itdp.org at list.jca.apc.org] On Behalf
> > Of Paul Barter
> > Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 1:49 AM
> > To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport
> > Subject: [sustran] Jakarta busway twists and turns?
> >
> > The Jakarta busways appear to be facing some curious decisions according
> > to this Jakarta Post article below.
> >
> > See near the end where it says:
> > "On Nov. 5 the administration announced motorists would be permitted to
> > use certain sections of other busway corridors in the city for a month.
> > The decision was made to ease traffic congestion caused by the ongoing
> > construction of the three new corridors."
> >
> > This means mixed traffic is being allowed into operational busways?
> > Can anyone fill in the background on what is going on in Jakarta? Should
> > we be worried about the future of BRT there or is this a minor hiccup?
> >
> > Paul
> > -------------------------------------------------------

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