REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SINGAPORE - A study shows that people of Jakarta are traveling across areas in Indonesia's Capital in an inefficient manner due to the poor transportation network. Senior partner at Credo, a business consultant firm based in London, Chris Molloy said during the World Cities Summit 2014 at the Marina Bay Sands residents of Jakarta were spending 23.5 percent of their GDP per capita on transportation costs. 

According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), Indonesian's annual GDP in 2013 was 33.5 million IDR (around 2,900 USD). Whereas, "the most efficient economic cost of transport is about 10 percent of the GDP per capita," Molloy said. 

The study "The Mobility Opportunity " conducted by Credo and commissioned by Siemens studied the transportation networks in 35 major cities around the world and assessed how prepared cities were to meet future challenges, including population growth and higher competition.

Copenhagen, Denmark, was the most cost-efficient city with 8.6 percent, followed by Singapore with 8.9 percent and Santiago, Chile, with 10.8 percent. The three have similar metro rail-based transportation services, which were able to meet the current demand with minimal crowding and offered a high level of user functionality.

The clear future plans to expand the metros with new lines to help meet future demand and an improvement in technology also contributed to the transportation efficiency. Meanwhile, the people in Lagos, Nigeria, were spending the most money than the others, with 27.7 percent.

Molloy said although the Jakarta's government had invested in a bus rapid transit network in an attempt to build low-cost capacity, it was not enough to accommodate its commuters.

"It is good as a short-term plan," Molloy said, adding that by increasing the fleet of vehicles only was not enough to keep up with the growing number of commuters.

"For Jakarta, a rail metro-based transportation system is the best. There is no substitute for that," he said.

The current mass transportation means cannot overcome the severe level of congestion in the city. "The minibus transport is currently well organized as well," he said.

The number of commuters in Jakarta is expected to rise from 1.5 million to 2.5 million during the morning peak rush hour by 2030. According to the study, Jakarta can derive an economic benefit of up to 8.9 billion United States dollars per year by 2030 if it upgrades its transportation networks to world class standard, while the annual value of the opportunity is about 3.3 billion USD.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika