Nowadays, development of public
transportation in Indonesia is going massive, especially under Mr. Jokowi’s
regime. During his nearly 5 years leadership, there have been so many new
public transportations built such as MRT or LRT. In some big cities, public
transportation is undoubtedly needed by the people. Specifically, in cities
with huge population, it can help them to reduce traffic jam. The question is,
does every city really need mass public transportation? Do the government plan
it really well?
Well, let’s take one example.
Light Rapid Transit in Palembang, South Sumatra. Last December, the writer had
a short holiday in one of major cities in Sumatra island. The city which is
well-known by its river, Musi. After the writer landed in the airport, the
writer took a ride on LRT. It is the first LRT has ever built across the
country. The stations are really good and clean as well as the train. The train
comes in every 30 minutes. Passengers are not allowed to eat or drinks inside
the train. That makes them always clean.
However, the writer noticed that
the train is not always full. There were only a few people. Later, the writer
knew that the people in Palembang does not really need the LRT. There are two
main reasons. First, LRT was built not by the city government but central
government, as an accommodation for athletes during the Asian Games 2018, not
for everyday commute. After Asian Games finished, the number of passengers were
gradually decreasing. Other than that, they prefer to take a ride on a bike
than to walk up on the stairs leading to the station to get on the train.
Especially for elderly people, it must be very tiring.
Second, the cost is too high. As
far as the writer knows, the cost of Palembang LRT is Rp. 10.000,- for every
trip, despite the distance passenger takes. Furthermore, they have to buy a
card that can only be used individually. It means that one card is only for one
person. It will make women who take some children older than 10 years-old have
to buy additional tickets just for their children. They will think that taking
taxi might be cheaper. Those reasons make Palembang LRT is not interesting and
lack of passengers. Therefore, the government must take the extra cost just for
paying for the maintenance and operational cost of the LRT instead of gaining
financial profit from it.
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