President Jokowi: LRT Expected to Increase Mass Transportation Use
President Jokowi with a number of public figures reviews the Greater Jakarta LRT, at Jati Mulya Station, Bekasi, West Java province, on Thursday (08/10). (Photo by: Public Relations of Cabinet Secretariat/Rahmat)
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo expressed hope that the operation of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) can encourage the public to use the mass transportation.
“We hope that the public can shift the use of private transportation to mass transportation,” President said at Dukuh Atas LRT Station, Jakarta, on Thursday (08/10).
He went on to say that if people switched from the private transportation to the mass transportation, then the congestion will be reduced, particulary in the Greater Jakarta (Jabodetabek).
“Our loss per year is almost Rp100 trillion due to the congestion in Greater Jakarta and Bandung. It indeed needs to be addressed carefully because it costs our macro economy a huge amount of money ,” he said.
Other than LRT, the President continued, the Government is also pushing other mode of transportation to be immediately operated, namely Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Train (KCJB). President Jokowi expressed hope that the train can be operated in September so that it can be part of the solution to reduce congestion and pollution.
“We will probably run a trial in September. As soon as everything is ready, it will start operating. The sooner, the better because every day we’re facing congestion and also pollution,” he explained.
Furthermore, to attract the interest of the people to use the mass transportation, President Jokowi said that the Government needs to provide subsidies for every mode of mass transportation. Such efforts are a form of service to the public called the Public Service Obligation (PSO) from the Government.
“We should carry out the PSO. Airport trains, TransJakarta, Intercity Trains, LRT, MRT and High-Speed Train must get subsidies because it will attract people to use the mass transportation,” he said. (AIT/UN) (RKW/EST)
