The pessimists among us in Jakarta have long said that new forms of public transportation are worthless as long as operators are incapable of maintaining them. That was largely true in the past — prime examples being hunks of junk such as Metro Mini and Kopaja buses as well as angkot minivans. But these days the government has shown that it can keep new public transportation facilities, like the updated Transjakarta fleet and the KRL Commuterline, relatively clean and well-maintained, signaling that perhaps we are ready for more advanced facilities like the long-anticipated Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) railway system.
And then, before the MRT is even launched, some people just had to ruin it.
On Friday morning, PT MRT employees found that one carriage of an MRT train parked in the Lebak Bulus depot in South Jakarta had been graffitied, possibly the night before. A press release from the state-owned transport operator said it suspected that the culprits climbed over the perimeter fence of the depot to tag the carriage during the dark of the night.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn-_GJ4HUws/?hl=en&taken-by=mrtjkt
Authorities have yet to identify the people responsible.
Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said he was outraged to learn about the graffiti.
“I ask for help from the police to chase the culprits until they are found. There must be a criminal sanction, I don’t know what it is and I leave it to the police, and I ask that you all share this despicable act so it becomes viral,” he told reporters yesterday, as quoted by Detik.
Budi also called on PT MRT to increase security measures around its facilities.
The first phase of the MRT, consisting of a railway line connecting Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta to Hotel Indonesia Roundabout in Central Jakarta, is targeted for commercial operations in March 2019.
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 has seen some delays in the past few years, having been previously targeted for completion in 2018 in time for the Asian Games co-hosted in Jakarta. Obviously, they missed that target so let’s hope they can really make it by March.
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