The future of Jakarta’s public transportation may very well evoke memories of its troubled past, at least in terms of seating comfort. So suspects many netizens after seeing a photo showing the seats on the highly-anticipated Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) trains.
Yesterday, MRT Jakarta posted a photo on Instagram showing the interior of their shiny brand new trains (some of which have already arrived in Jakarta) and many were underwhelmed after seeing that the seats lack any comfy cushions.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhpuwuIjf7x/?taken-by=mrtjkt
Some even said the seats are basically just a blue version of the seats on the notorious Metrominis — old and rusty city buses often driven by reckless drivers that are being gradually phased out of Jakarta’s roads.
“Duh, the seats are like Metrominis’. They must be hard. It won’t be comfortable riding [the MRT],” wrote one commenter.
“That’s right, even the KRL [Commuterline trains] seats have cushions, this is like the Metromini,” wrote another.
Addressing the issue, MRT Jakarta said they deliberately chose the seats — which are made of fiberglass — due to several considerations.
“So fiberglass is cheaper and easier to maintain. The seats like in the KRL are made of standard material. With fiberglass, if there’s damage, individual seats can be replaced, so it’s easier and cheaper,” said PT MRT Corporate Secretary Tubagus Hikmatullah, as quoted by Detik yesterday.
Backing the MRT, netizens who claim to have taken similar rail-based transportation abroad say that fiberglass seats are the norm (some of these netizens do come across as quite snobby, though).
Hahahaha, yg ngomong gitu kayanya blm pernah naik MRT di Singapore ya. Atau emang yg di singapore kursi MRTny udh empuk ya? Seinget gw di Singapore pas naik MRT kursinya keras deh kaya kursi metromini. Apa gw lupa ya 😂😂 #maafkeun https://t.co/9vckUDuHRx
— 요세브ㅂ라뵤워 (@yohardiwoto) April 17, 2018
“Hahahaha, those who say that have never gone on Singapore’s MRT. Or are Singapore MRT’s seats cushioned? As I remember seats on Singapore’s MRT are hard like Metromini seats. Did I forget?”
Cushioned seats or not, much hope has been placed on the MRT to alleviate the capital’s traffic woes. Minister of National Development Planning Bambang Brodjonegoro said last year that Jakarta’s macet — a consequence of the city’s lateness in constructing rail-based transportation systems like the MRT — causes the country US$5 billion loss each year in lost productivity.
The MRT is expected to go into operation in early 2019, later than its previous target of 2018 (which would have made it available for the 2018 Asian Games co-hosted by Jakarta in August).
