The Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) have ended and are now entering a transition period. Economic activities have started to revive. However, behind the enthusiasm of the community to live the "new normal", the concern of contracting Covid-19 is still high, especially when traveling on public transportation. All parties, both government and private, must work together to ensure that people feel safe riding public transportation so that they do not switch to private vehicles.
Director of Engineering and Facilities of PT Transportasi Jakarta (TransJakarta), Yoga Adiwinarto, said that the Transitional PSBB period is a crucial period to be able to control Covid-19, and mass transit mobility is certainly key.
This was conveyed by Yoga in a webinar entitled Jakarta's Public Transport: Safe or To Be Avoided?, a collaboration between the Jakarta Property Institute (JPI) and the Center for Policy & Public Management of the School of Business and Management (SBM) ITB Jakarta Campus on Wednesday, June 10, 2020.
"The readiness of mass transportation such as Transjakarta that prioritizes health protocols is a determining factor to restore people's confidence in using public transportation, but also to ensure that the spread of the virus through public transportation does not occur," he said.
Yoga also added that Transjakarta with its mission of connecting the life of Jakarta, will continue to take various efforts, including coordinating with many parties, to ensure that citizen mobility can continue to be served and still prioritize health protocols.
Program Director of the Jakarta Property Institute (JPI), Mulya Amri, emphasized the need for collaboration between transportation operators such as TransJakarta, building managers, and also area managers. This collaboration is very important to ensure that the mobility of workers who use public transportation after the end of PSBB during the pandemic can be done safely.
"Each authority cannot work alone. They have to work together, especially between transportation operators and local area managers."
He added that with this collaboration, the accumulation of passengers at bus stops can be resolved starting from outside the building.
Currently, there are very few areas that have their own managers, one of which is the Sudirman Central Business District (SCBD). In the future, Mulya expects more business areas and Transit Oriented Development (TOD) to be well-managed by professional area managers.
"Building managers are only able to regulate when people enter and exit the building, while when people go outside the building to the bus stop or station is the authority of the area manager, or better known as the district manager," he said.
Yos Sunitiyoso, a researcher in the field of transportation mode user decision making, who is also the Director of SBM ITB Jakarta Campus, predicts that there will be changes in the behavior of transportation mode users.
"Concerns over the safety of mass public transportation will lead commuters who can afford or have access to private vehicles, to return to using them" he said.
Yos said that before the pandemic, private motorcycle users made up the largest proportion with 62.2% and private cars 8.6%, while mass public transportation users (KRL, MRT, LRT, Transjakarta and regular buses) were only 14.9% (BPS, 2019).
"The ability of public transportation operators to assure users that they will not be infected in public vehicles or at bus stops and stations is very important," he said. In addition, mass transportation users are mode-mixing users, so health protocols must also be implemented in all modes of public transportation, from angkot, regular buses toride-hailing.
This shows the importance of operators to be able to disseminate information to users properly and reduce the risk of Covid -19 transmission. A social-psychological approach can be used to help determine the right way to influence behavior change of mass transportation users.
Meanwhile, Puspita Dirgahayani, an urban transportation researcher from ITB, said that there will be a wide supply and demand gap after PSBB is removed because public transportation capacity is reduced due to physical distancing protocols.
"The majority of public transportation users are those who have no other mode options," said Puspita, who is also the Vice Dean for Resources - School of Architecture, Planning and Policy Development (SAPPK) ITB.
He added that the government must be keen to see this because if public transportation users do not get access, then the issue becomes humanity and injustice.
"Is it fair that they are forced to pay more for movement, while the economic conditions have worsened due to Covid-19?"
Therefore, Puspita emphasized that the government should take advantage of this moment to improve the service of mass public transport system in Jabodetabek. The improvement of public transit system services is not only a single policy, but also a supporting policy.
"Other supporting policy instruments are needed, including managing travel patterns by distributing them temporally both at the city scale and per activity, continuing the integration of public vehicles and non-motorized vehicles (walking and bicycles), and rolling out fiscal instruments to subsidize public transport," he said.
The webinar was hosted by Agung Wicaksono, a lecturer at SBM ITB Jakarta Campus from the Center for Policy & Public Management, who previously served as President Director of TransJakarta.
Agung concluded that public transportation in this new normal era can be a safe choice for citizens if all parties work together. This cooperation is between the organizing operator who regulates the supply side so that the fleet capacity is sufficient with companies and area managers who regulate the demand side so as not to accumulate at one time.
"But also, of course, citizens using public transportation need to behave in an orderly manner according to the protocol in the new normal scenario until a vaccine is found. The government must also support policies and funding that favor mass public transportation," he said.
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Contact person:
Corry Elyda
+6281226977668 | corry@jpi.or.id
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