MRT as Climate Policy in Urban Transportation

Abstract

Since the transportation sector is one of the main contributors of GHG emissions in Indonesia, having a clear direction of climate policy is very important. Developing mass rapid transit (MRT) as the climate policy in urban transportation is urgently needed since it can encourage people to use public transport. However, some policies seem conflicting, either encouraging or discouraging people to use public transport. Therefore, balancing conflicting policies is important. Fuel subsidy is such policy that hampers potential impacts of the MRT being currently under construction in one of the most congested cities in the world, Jakarta. Describing the current transport policies in Jakarta as well as the current commuters’ behavior on transport mode choices is a basis to deliver the appropriate policies. Repeated choice experiments for private vehicle commuters in Jakarta on preferences if they would be willing to shift to MRT once it becomes available have been conducted before and after the removal of the fuel subsidy. The mixed logit models revealed that the scale of impacts on probability to shift for MRT due to subsidy removal is significant compared to the best available feasible options for MRT service improvements. Moreover, after the actual implementation of the fuel subsidy removal, more motorcycle commuters are willing to shift compared to the hypothetical scenario of the fuel subsidy removal. Shifting from using cars or motorcycles to MRT also can reduce the CO2 emission. Under the assumptions that MRT will be operated by electric-based systems and the CO2 emission is negligible, the shifting of commuters from cars and motorcycles can reduce the CO2 emission by 10.52 % per year, using the year 2013 as the base year. Moreover, because of the fuel subsidy removal, the reduction of CO2 emission will be higher, up to 13.28 % per year.