Right now, people who want to commute into Jakarta from the capital’s satellite cities like Tangerang and Bekasi have to use numerous different forms of public transportation to make the trip.
Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama is hoping that he can streamline things by extending the TransJakarta busway system out beyond the capital’s borders, allowing people to commute in and out of Jakarta cheaply and hopefully cutting down on traffic.
“If TransJakarta bus goes to Bekasi, than [Bekasi citizens] can get to Jakarta for cheap,” Ahok said at City Hall today as quoted by Vivanews.
Unlike the bus system that is currently used by commuters to make most of their trip into Jakarta from satellite cities, the TransJabodetabek, Ahok said the TransJakarta could apply the same fare prices to passengers coming in from outside the capital, which could be a possibility if it was subsidized using money from the Regional Budget.
Right now, the TransJakarta costs Rp 3,500 per trip, so theoretically Ahok said citizens of Bekasi and other satellite cities could go roundtrip for just Rp 7,000.
Ahok said the government could also construct park and ride facilities near the Busway stops to encourage people to use the TransJakarta for the majority of their commutes.
Of course, for such a plan to work, TransJakarta operator PT Transportasi Jakarta would have to add a huge number of buses to their fleet, which seems unlikely to happen anytime soon given the state-owned company’s inability to add sufficient buses just to their Jakarta routes over the last few years.
But Ahok, who has often criticised the operator before, said he was very serious about his plan and would even consider completely replacing the board of PT Transportasi Jakarta in order to make it happen. If that’s what it would take, we think that’d be a small price to pay for a plan that could both save people money and significantly reduce Jakarta’s maddening macet.
