Scaling-up Transjakarta e-Bus deployment through capacity building, an action plan, regulation and finance

• Public transport contributes to around 22% of air pollution emissions in Jakarta, meaning electrification can reduce air pollution in Jakarta and improve the quality of life
• Transjakarta committed to electrifying 100% of its fleets by 2030, equivalent to more than 10,000 e-buses by 2030
• This electrification would promote positive impacts in equity and accessibility and an annual estimated reduction of more than 100,000 metric tons of CO2
• The electrification equated to an estimated total investment of USD 2.4bn. One of the biggest challenges to Transjakarta’s fleet electrification goal is lack of financial incentives from the government to overcome the high capital costs for acquiring electric fleets. Additionally, Transjakarta’s operators lack the capacity to secure required financing
• International and local financial institutions have demonstrated their interest in supporting Transjakarta to realise its electrification target. However, these institutions face challenges finding appropriate mechanisms to channel their funds

Over the course of two years, ITDP developed outputs and processes to facilitate Transjakarta’s electrification. Key achievements included:

• A Governor Decree which included financial mechanisms that was adopted by the Government of Jakarta and is now legalised. This solidifies the commitment of Jakarta to reduce the GHG emission through public transport electrification
• An alternative financing mechanism that can be used and further developed by Transjakarta to initiate e-bus implementation
• Transjakarta large bus and microbus operators gained technical knowledge about the planning and operation of e-buses through a peer-to-peer knowledge exchange with Olectra and Evey Trans from India
• More than 100 individual stakeholders attended a series of online workshops that were conducted in the first year of the project. Attendees included financial donors, technical assistance organisations, foreign Embassies, municipal and regional governments, national ministries, people with disabilities, e-bus OEMs, bus operators, and authorised resellers and licence holders. The streams were recorded and viewed more than 6,000 times on YouTube
• A comprehensive implementation plan was developed, including the total investment plan and its impact on the subsidy allocation
• Development of alternative business models to accommodate these findings – transferable to other cities in Indonesia
• Creation of a charging strategy tool to support Transjakarta and bus operators in determining suitable vehicles, battery specifications, and charger configurations to meet each microbus route’s needs
• The project also provided capacity building to both Transjakarta and the Government of Jakarta

ITDP ensured mainstreaming of GESI activities throughout the project to ensure that all groups had access to future jobs and use of public transportation without being negatively impacted throughout the electrification. Some of the GESI outputs across the two years included:

• Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with women, children, people with disabilities (PWDs) and interviews with representatives of elderly people to assess accessibility challenges
• Trial run surveys with the above groups to ensure their opinions had been included in the design, including an adequate wheelchair area equipped with a safety belt inside the electric bus, and ensuring the accessibility of visual and audio passenger information systems
• ITDP worked with DRPM University of Indonesia, Transport for Jakarta, Indonesian Movement for Universal Accessibility (GAUN), and Indonesian Blind Association (Pertuni), to implement various interventions in stations, including: audio visual information on bus platforms, specified card tapping areas to help people with visual disabilities to locate where on the gate they need to tap their card, braille information on the handrails at the gate of the stations, and visual and braille information at Mikrotrans and non-BRT bus stops
• A panel discussion on inclusive public transport by design
• A wayfinding standardisation workshop to raise awareness of guidelines on information guidance systems
• A customer charter for Transjakarta which included the perspectives of vulnerable groups
• A non-motorised Transportation Roadmap to direct people walking to public transport stations on safe and accessible routes

ITDP identified some key lessons and recommendations throughout the two years of implementing this project:

• Identifying alternative financing and appropriate incentives was crucial to achieving Transjakarta’s electrification goal
• Carbon trading could be a measure to accelerate the transition to cleaner transport options which Transjakarta and the government should explore
• The government is a key stakeholder, playing a vital role in issuing the regulatory framework which accelerate the adoption of electrification
• Microbus electrification is pivotal to achieving more than 10,000 e-buses operated by Transjakarta in 2030. They account for nearly two-thirds of the total e-buses targeted by Transjakarta to be operated in that year, the highest among all types of fleets
• Electrification is a multi-stakeholder effort and required stakeholder prioritisation. Therefore, the most influential and interested stakeholders were consulted to disseminate recommendations with the greatest effect in a small number of meetings