Transjakarta and its role in tourism planning

Chapter 1 Introduction1.1 Aim and objectives of the study

A study made by World Travel and Tourism Council (2013)

found out that travel and tourism has contributed as much

as 9% of the global GDP (US$ 6.6 trillion) and 260

million jobs (1 in 11 of the world’s total jobs) has been

generated from this industry itself.

In long term period, the demand from and within this

emerging markets will continue to rise significantly.

Investment need to be made in a master plan that is

suitable for new sources of demand to achieve the clear

growth potential that exist, by the destinations.

Transportation System is part of the master plan.

Therefore, transportation is acknowledged as one of the

most significant factors to have contributed to the

international development of tourism.

This study seeks to provide an extensive review of public

transportation use at the destinations with the following

objectives:

(1) To understand the main topics and issues regarding

public transportation use for tourism at destinations.

(2) To understand how public transportation is used for

tourism purposes.

In achieving these objectives, the following questions

are to be examined:

- How is Transjakarta used at the destination?

1

- Is Tranjakarta a potential alternative mode for

travelling?

- How to encourage Tranjakarta use in tourism?

Born, raised and lived in Jakarta for the pass 35 years

of her life, let the writer experienced the city life

there. Tasting the unreliable public transport facilities

provided, left a strong memory of it and that was the

reason why the writer feels the need of this study

whether or not our latest buss rapid transit able to take

part in making Jakarta a better city to visit. Most

importantly, whether or not Transjakarta is ready to help

Jakarta facing the massive progress in this industry, as

stated by WTTC (2013) the industry has outperformed the

entire wider economy in 2012, it has grown faster than

other notable industries such as financial services,

retail, and manufacturing. The writer is hoping that

Transjakarta can have a contribution in tourism planning

of Jakarta.

1.2 What is tourism planning?

To have a better view of what tourism planning is, the

writer will describe each word separately and then will

conclude the finding.

There are many definitions of tourism, which someone

looks at tourism influences the way tourism is defined.

Noted by Pearce (1987), Tourism ‘may be thought of as

relationship and phenomena arising out of the journeys

and temporary stays of people travelling primarily for

2

leisure or recreational purposes’. Another definition

from Leiper (2004): ‘Tourism can be defined as the

theories and practices for being a tourist’. Both writers

link tourism with travelling and leisure. However another

writer see it from different perspective, like for

example Weaver and Lawton (2000) emphasise a stakeholder

management perspective in their definition of tourism:

‘Tourism is the sum of phenomena and relationships

arising from the interaction among tourists, the tourist

industry, host governments, host communities, origin

governments, universities, community colleges, and non-

government organisations, in the process of attracting,

transporting, hosting, and managing these tourists and

other visitors’. Let us move forward to what planning is.

Much like tourism, there is no universal agreement on how

to define planning. In its simplest form planning is

about identifying appropriate steps to achieve some pre-

determined goal. Planning is a traditional and basic

human activity. Oxford dictionary defined planning as a

process of making plans for something. Gleeson and Low

(2000) explain planning as a concept, like ‘justice’ or

‘democracy’ or ‘money’, crucially important for social

life.

Therefore, the writer has come into a conclusion of what

Tourism Planning is; an activity in identifying

appropriate steps to provide, to cater, and to manage

what leisure and business travellers needs involving the

tourist industry, origin governments, host governments,

3

host communities, community colleges, universities, and

non-government organisations, in other words it is a

multi-agencies collaboration1. Hence, the writer would

like to study the role of Transjakarta, which has an

opportunity in panning better tourism for the city of

Jakarta.

Chapter 2 Literature Review2.1 The role of public transportation in tourism planning

Without the support of transportation there would

essentially be no tourism, as transport is a determinant

key of destination development (Henderson, 2009). Being a

determinant key, public transportation plays an important

role in tourism development at a destination, especially

in urban areas. With many cities now facing the problem

of growing populations, high motorization and increasing

congestion, more urban planners look towards improving

their public transportation as a response to traffic

problems. This improvement will not only benefit the

local residents but the tourists as well. Tourists are

more attracted to cities with effective and extensive

public transportation networks, noted by Mandeno (2011)

as well as Yang (2010). Furthermore, tourists’

satisfaction with a destination is actually influenced by

their experience with public transportation service

(Thompson & Schofield, 2007), and with the income from

the tourism itself, it can provide a partial funding for

public transportation development and service improvement

1 Multi-agencies collaboration will be discussed more in Chapter 2

4

(Albalate & Bel, 2010). The long-recognised ‘two-way

symbiosis’ between transportation networks and regional

economic development is actually reflects the

relationship between public transportation and tourism

(MacKinnon et al., 2008).

The theories described above has helped the writer come

into a conclusion in understanding the role of public

transportation in tourism, it is a tool to support the

growth of tourism in one area, by connecting tourists

with the local attractions and have the ability to move

around within the area, which was partially funded by the

income from tourism itself, subsidised and supported by

the government.

2.2 Multi-agencies collaboration (Public-private

partnership) in tourism planning

As instrument for tourism planning, destination

management and marketing, public-private partnership

(PPP) has gained popularity, as noted by Bramwell (2005).

Examples of worldwide established PPP vary but may

include chambers of commerce, tourism commissions,

tourist industry associations, city convention bureaus,

development agencies or local tourist boards, among

others (Dredge & Jenkins, 2007; Hall, 2011a). This issue

in the tourism academy has been intensively discussed to

date and approached from different disciplines and

perspectives (Baggio, 2011; Hall, 2008). Reasons have

been provided for the growth of public–private

5

collaboration as well as the rise of partnership

formation in the tourist sector. First, the pursuit of

public sector’s for effectiveness and the accompanying

processes of marketization have resulted in new forms of

governance that have encouraged the outsourcing of public

services through partnership formation (such as in

tourism destination management) (Hall, 2008). Second, the

state, has developed a relational interventionist model

through new network governance frameworks, as a result of

its redefinition in the context of the network society,

(Bult-Spiering & Dewulf, 2006; Stoker, 2006) Third, the

deregulation processes; a demand for reducing public

borrowing, cuts in public funding and nowadays as a

result from the privatisation of functions and services

previously provided by the government (Dredge & Jenkins,

2007; Hall, 2008), as well as promoting a partnerships

between public sector and the private tourism sector by

implementing policies and projects (Hall, 2009). Finally,

characteristic fragmentation of the tourism

organisational field and high interdependency of the

tourist sector are also factors encouraging the

intensification of inter-organizational relationships,

which often lead to formal tourism partnerships (Hall,

2008). Below are some examples of the collaborations.

2.3 Examples of PPP in public transportation facilities:

2.2.1 Singapore EZ-Link Card

6

Ez-link card was a first contact-less stored value card

introduced for public usage on the MRT, LRT and buses

which was issued by EZ-Link Pte Ltd in April 2002. Due to

its contact-less nature, within 0.2 seconds the card

completes all its transactions and in this way,

travelling on buses and trains will be much faster and

smoother by simply tap and go.

The latest apps infused in EZ-link card is called CEPAS

(Contact-less e-Purse Applications, a Singapore

standard), was the first CEPAS card launched in 2008.

Today, the EZ-link card has become synonymous with

convenient, quick, accurate and secured cashless

transactions. To date most of people who lives in

Singapore, be it local or foreigner carries their own EZ-

link card not just for transit purposes but also for all

kinds of lifestyle needs such as ERP charges, government

services, retail outlets shopping, dining, and many more.

Explanatory:

EZ-Link Pte.Ltd, as a private body, is collaborating with

SMRT and SBS as well as Land Transport Authority, a

statutory board of the Government of Singapore, in

creating a well structured, organised, and integrated

public transportation in Singapore.

2.2.2 Perth SmartRider

Transperth, is the operator for public transportation in

Perth as well as the authority for public transportation

of the state capital of Western Australia. In early 1990s

7

the old rotary paper ticketing units was replaced by a

newer ticketing system called Multi-Rider which was

supplied by Wayfarer Transit Systems and in 2007

this MultiRider ticketing system was renewed with

the launch of SmartRider ticketing system, a contact-less

electronic ticketing system using smartcard technology

for the process of charging public transportation

charges.

The SmartRider infused with a microchip and internal

aerial, allowing it to communicate with processors

located on each buses and ferries and at railway

stations. It is not only for fare charges, the card can

also be used at some railway station car-parks to pay for

parking and to pay for cab ride as well as to

authenticate access to the bicycle storage areas at some

stations.

Explanatory:

Wayfarer Transit System as a private body engaged by

TransPerth to supply smart electric ticket for

TransPerth. Another application of public-private

partnership, in public transportation system.

2.2.3 Hong Kong Octopus Card

In 1979, Hong Kong transport operator, the MTR

Corporation Limited (MTR), had been operating a fully

automatic fare collection system. As a further

enhancement for the convenience of each customer, MTR

8

introduced the contact-less smart card technology in

1993. This was subsequently recognised as the most

appropriate platform for fare collection.

To oversee the development and implementation of contact-

less smart card technology, MTR, KCRC, KMB, Citybus and

the Hong Kong and Yaumatei Ferry (HYF), as Hong Kong's

five major public transport operators, established a

joint venture known as Creative Star Limited in 1994

(which will be renamed to Octopus Cards Limited later in

2002).

To date, most of people in Hong Kong uses Octopus to

travel, shop or dine without the hassle of coins and over

1.4 million customers currently enjoy the hassle-free add

value service provided by over 20 financial institutions.

Explanatory:

A public-private partnership in between private sector

named Creative Star Limited (which later renamed Octopus

Card Limited) and Public Transport Authority in Hong

Kong.

2.4 Socio-cultural impact in tourism planning

When tourism is introduced, both benefits as well as

problems to the local society and its cultural patterns

can be brought in to the local society. In developing

tourism in any place, socio-cultural impacts are the

major considerations. These impacts can be especially

critical in traditional societies and economies. When

tourism is well planned, developed properly and managed

9

in a socially responsible manner, it can bring several

types of socio-cultural benefits. These include:

If the economic benefits of tourism are well

distributed, it can improve the standards of living

for the local people and helps pay for some

improvements to community facilities and services.

Explanatory:

Obviously public transportation is one of the

contributions to improve the living standard as it

connects the peoples and it move peoples around.

Improvement in transportation as a mean of achieving

the broader goals of reducing poverty, sustaining

economic growth and stimulating social development,

noted by The European Commission, Development and

Cooperation-EuropeAid (2014)

When they observe tourists appreciating it, it will

somehow reinforce and or even renews sense of pride

by the local residents in their own culture/site.

This is especially true of some traditional

societies which are undergoing rapid change and

losing their sense of cultural self-confidence

(Adedeji et.al., 2011)

Explanatory:

By improving transportation to various sites of

culture in the destination, it gives easy access for

tourist to appreciate the local culture/site which

10

eventually will boost the morale of the local

community in preserving the culture/site.

Open up a better opportunity for cross cultural

exchange between tourists and the locals who learn

about, and come to respect one another’s cultures.

As explained by United Nations Environment Programme

(2014) that tourism is one of the foremost drivers

of cultural exchange, providing a personal

experience, not only of that which has survived from

the past, but of the contemporary life and society

of others

Explanatory:

When tourists meet locals, it creates a chance of

cross cultural exchange. The tourists will

definitely learn something new about the locals and

likewise the locals somehow will pick up something

different from the tourists’ habit and somehow they

will adjust themselves to blend it.

To have a better understanding how this study will be

done, let the writer explain the methodology in the next

chapter.

Chapter 3 MethodologyAccording to Polit and Beck (2006) steps, procedures, and

strategies in collecting and analysing data is called

methodology, and for this assignment, the writer

undertaken a literature survey and web-site research to

obtain relevant information, in other words secondary

11

data will be used. Therefore, data will be obtained from

some official websites such as; Indonesian Tourism Board,

National Heritage of Indonesia, Transjakarta, etc whereby

data can be in the form of tablets, graphs (fig), and

writings about Transjakarta and its role, because Mazala

(2011) said that validity of any research study entails

the extent to which the data collected by the researcher

truly mirrors the phenomenon being studied.

Once data collected, it will then be analysed to find a

conclusion about ‘what role can be played by Tranjakarta

in tourism’, so that suggestion can be made from the

concluded data.

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussions4.1 Public transport and tourism in Jakarta

Described in the official site of Jakarta Tourism, let us

get to know Jakarta in brief. Jakarta was once called

Jayakarta, ever since fourth century became an important

trading port for the Kingdom of Sunda. In 1619, Jayakarta

was destroyed by VOC-Dutch; they built a new town by the

west bank of the longest river ‘Ciliwung’ and given it a

new name ‘Batavia’ which was after a Dutch tribal

ancestor ‘Batavieren’. Since then, Batavia was well known

as the Jewel of the East. 1942 the year of Japanese

occupation in Indonesia, Batavia was renamed by them to

Jakarta, and since 1945 where the country’s independence

declared, Jakarta became the capital city of Republic

Indonesia.

12

For the past several decades, Jakarta has developed so

well, becoming one of Asia’s most prominent metropolitan

centres (Indonesia Tourism Board, 2013). Skyline covered

by modern high rises; hotels, malls, office buildings,

apartments, etc. Mainly being the gateway to other

tourist destinations across the country, Jakarta becoming

one of Indonesia’s designated tourist area for both

leisure and business. Being as such, Jakarta has to be

equipped with a proper infrastructure. Well, apart from

the quality of the structures, Jakarta is pretty much

equipped itself with 4 modes of transportation; air, sea,

rail, and land. As the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta

became the centre of economic and political, it really

attracts most of domestic immigrants. Their movement has

created a diversion in Jakarta, as each and every one of

those domestic immigrant has their own uniqueness;

dialect, languages, customs, and foods, it enriched the

culture of Jakarta. This condition attracts tourist to

explore Jakarta more; the peoples, the traditional

cultures, the foods, etc because diversity is always

interesting (Pechlaner, H., & Smeral, E., 2014).

With the growing number of tourist coming in to Jakarta

(Indonesia Tourism Performance, 2012) the provincial

Government of DKI Jakarta really need to think about

improving the public transportation in Jakarta. As

Henderson (2009) said in chapter 2, without the support

of transportation there would essentially be no tourism,

as transport is a determinant key of destination

13

development. By boosting the transportation system in

Jakarta, many tourism destinations will be easily

accessed by tourists: museums, historic sites, shopping

areas, business district areas, culinary places, etc.

Those spots will definitely generate a large amount of

income for the people surroundings and for the local

government. We’ll discuss more about area of improvement

for the transportation system in the next sub chapter.

4.2 Problem unique to Jakarta

Transportation problems in Jakarta are very complex; it

is unfortunate since transportation is one of the

foundations for economy. The analysis made by the

Presidential Working Unit for Supervision and Management

of Development (2011), show that the losses caused by

traffic jam are amounted to IDR 12,8 trillion per year.

There are three common transportation problems faced by

Jakarta; poor and unreliable public transportation

system, uncontrolled numbers of private vehicles, and

indiscipline behaviour of road users (Khafian, 2013)

Jakarta is seriously strained over this problem; 28

million peoples live in Jakarta with nearly 10 million

vehicles move around the metropolitan each day, with no

reliable rapid transit system provided. This situation

has been going on for years and eventually creating a

problem, massive congestion in the city due to the

imbalance of the amount of private vehicles and the

development of road networks. This was posted by Cochrane

(2013) in his The New York Times’ article.

14

We begin with the poor quality of public transportation

available in Jakarta:

Train system, as the biggest mass transportation

available in Jakarta, efficiency is lacking in the

system; the schedule, the route planning, and most of all

the safety is lacking seriously, accidents often

happened:

Derailed train in Tasikmalaya-West Java (The Jakarta

Post, 2014)

Train Crashes Into Gas Tanker in Bintaro-South of

Jakarta, Several Killed (The Jakarta Globe, 2013)

One killed, six injured in Serang-Province of Banten

train accident (The Jakarta Post, 2012)

Buses in Jakarta, most of the units are not well

maintained, due to the poor quality control from the

operators, unprofessional bus driver (speeding, drop

off/pick up along the main road, over taking others in a

bad manner, etc), at the same time lack of public

facilities from the local government to support the

transportation system (very few bus stop, bus stop that

is occupied by the road seller, corrupted system in the

public transportation inspection centre, etc), some

examples of the accident involving land transportation in

Jakarta:

Four Injured in Bus Accident in Cikampek Toll road

(Tempo.co, 2014)

At least 19 killed in Indonesia church bus crash

(The Boston Globe, 2013)

15

Bus Crash Is Like Billiards (iindi, 2012)

Taxi, a type of vehicle for hire (base on the meter

running) with a driver, conveys passenger(s) between

location(s) of their choice. Taxi ride will be chosen

whenever we need to get to a destination directly as

though we are driving our own private car. It can be

actually the fastest and the easiest way to get from

point A to point B safely. Recently, Taxi rides in

Jakarta are no longer as safe as it used to be. Robbery

in cabs, raped case, dodgy taxi driver, etc. Below are

some bad examples of Jakarta’s taxi ride:

Pregnant woman robs taxi passenger in Jakarta

(Asiaone, 2013)

Passengers called upon to prevent taxi crime (The

Jakarta Post, 2012)

Bad Taxi Service (The Jakarta Post, 2003)

Seeing so many bad experiences with the public

transportation available in Jakarta, make most of the

peoples in Jakarta to think of owning their own private

vehicle, be it two wheels and/or four wheels. Now, here

comes the problem, when nearly every house hold own their

private vehicles, it create a rapid growth of

motorization of 10% each year which is followed by only

less than 1% each year of road infrastructure growth

(Soehodho, 2007). Massive traffic jam is the result of

that imbalance growth (The Jakarta Globe, 2009)

4.3 Transjakarta

16

4.3.1 Company profile

Transjakarta is the provider of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)

or better known as Busway. The institutional form of

Transjakarta is currently the Public Service Body (BLU)

which is under the supervision of the Department of

transportation the provincial Government of DKI Jakarta.

BLU Transjakarta Busway responsible for managing which

include the planning, operation and maintenance.

On 15 January 2004, Transjakarta began its operation as

the flagship program of the provincial Government of

Jakarta, a bus-based public transportation which

prioritizes security and safety, comfort and low cost for

the commuters. The system and the facilities was

specifically designed to transport passengers in large

enough quantity.

Fig.4.1 Transjakarta Logo

4.3.2 Company’s Vision and Mission

17

Vision:

To provide service in fast, secure, convenient,

efficient, and affordable way.

To provide service that is more reliable, high

quality, equitable, and sustainable in DKI Jakarta.

To provide a medium-term solution and long term

against the problem in the public transport sector.

Mission:

Developing a sustainable institutional structures and

community service agencies with financial management

based on good corporate governance, accountability, and

transparency.

4.3.3 Company’s Structural

The structure of the busway teams consists of:

a. Transport Agency (DisHub)

b. Public Works Agency (Dinas PU)

c. Parks Agency (Dinas Pertamanan)

d. City Planning Agency (Dinas Tata Kota)

e. City Lights and Utility (Dinas PJU and SJU)

f. West and East Jakarta Municipalities

As helping hands, a few consultants/organizations were

appointed to help the busway team:

a. Consultant for Feasibility Study, and Operational Plan

for busway (CTS. UI)

18

b. Consultant for Engineering Design of busway, and for

Traffic Management (PT. Pamintori)

c. Consultant for Architectural Design of busway (PT.

Arkonin)

d. PT. Perencana Jaya: PT. Perencana Jaya is also a

consultant to Public Works (PU), designing the road (re-

configuration) of the 2nd and 3rd corridors.

From the structural of the teams in Tranjakarta, we can

see that there is collaboration between Public and

Private sector (was discussed in sub-chapter 2.3)

4.3.4 Nature of Business

Transjakarta provides a bus-based mass transportation for

the citizens of Jakarta, with 12 major routes.

Tranjakarta hopes to transport millions of citizens who

need transportation. Proven ‘til 2013, Transjakarta is

capable of carrying approximately 72 millions passengers,

as shown in the chart below:

Chart 4.1 Pax carried in the year of 2013 in 6 corridors.

19

01.000.0002.000.0003.000.0004.000.0005.000.0006.000.0007.000.0008.000.000

Jan Feb M a

rAprM ay Jun Jul Au

gSep Oc

tNovDec

2013

Pax

432169Total

Equipped with 669 units of buses, Transjakarta opened 12

corridors/routes. Details of Tranjakarta routes are shown

in the table below:

Table 4.1 Transjakarta Corridors/Routes

Corridors Stations   Corridors Stations

1 20 Stations   7 12 Stations2 23 Stations   8 16 Stations3 12 Stations   9 22 Stations4 18 Stations   10 20 Stations5 16 Stations   11 12 Stations6 18 Stations   12 15 Stations

4.4 The role of Bus Rapid Transportation (Transjakarta) in

boosting tourism

From the previous chapter we can see the urgent needs for

a well organised public transportation system to solve

the traffic problems in Jakarta which will in the end

20

boost tourism in Jakarta as well. Transjakarta has been

running for the past 10 years with some improvements and

adjustments done there and then to meet the needs of the

passengers and as one of the public transportation

alternatives it can connect the tourist to some

destination in the city.

As mentioned in chapter 2, transportation is part of

tourism, thus Tranjakarta as a bus-based mass

transportation has got a role in supporting tourism in

Jakarta by connecting people and commuting them to some

destinations, that can be benefited the locals and the

tourists (domestic and international). To the local,

Tranjakarta is one of the choices to commute within the

city with low cost at only IDR 3,000 equal to US$0.30 per

entrance, in longer term it will lessen the burden of the

road because the usage of private vehicles by the locals

have been minimised. Tourists in other hand will be

encouraged to do what locals do in tasting the

convenience of Tranjakarta in connecting them to

favourites spot in the city, and for this matter, route

planning plays part. Plan the route as such that places

of interests are within the line.

By connecting the tourists to some favourites spot, it

automatically boosts the popularity of that particular

destination which in the end will generate income to the

premises itself and the neighbourhood surrounding the

area.

21

Chapter 5: Conclusion and RecommendationJakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, has got so many

things to offer, for leisure and business. Part of

planning for tourism is the availability of

transportation for tourists to move around the city.

Transjakarta as the latest mass transportation in Jakarta

has served the role in commuting, connecting peoples in

the city to some destinations along the line served by

Transjakarta. Main role of a mass public transportation

is to commute a large number of commuters in one go, and

it has been proven by Tranjakarta, until year 2013 it has

been serving nearly 72 million passengers

(www.transjakarta.co.id, 2014).

Generally, to compare with those regular bus services,

Transjakarta has a better service for it has the

availability of facilitating infrastructures; its own bus

lane, and a special bus station. However, these

facilitating infrastructures only available on some

corridors, hence it doesn’t necessarily attract

travellers to use Transjakarta. Therefore, the

availability of these facilities; feeder bus, park and

ride facilities, and other supporting elements, will

actually have a significant effect on traveller’s

intention to use their service, especially for tourist to

be able to hop on and off many destinations along the

line, because a user-friendly public transportation’s

network will motivate a greater usage by the commuters

(Thompson et.al., 2007). Additional aspect are includes

22

efficiency, safety, and service frequency, which the

writer see is pretty lacking in Tranjakarta. In

conclusion, as a bus-based rapid public transportation,

Transjakarta has a very good opportunity to be an

alternative transport mode to move around Jakarta which

really depends on the operation sides of Transjakarta

itself.

23