Budget Efficiency Hits Palembang Public Transportation, Domino Effect Increasingly Threatening

The central government's budget efficiency policy has also hit public transportation services in Palembang, South Sumatra. Because subsidies are limited, the Palembang Integrated Bus or BRT service has been cut from five corridors to only two corridors starting January 1, 2025. Get ready, the domino effect will threaten.

The euphoria of the 2025 New Year celebration turned out to be fleeting for public transportation users in Palembang, especially those who regularly use the BRT service.

The BRT Palembang, which usually operates on Corridor 1 (Terminal Alang-alang Lebar-Ampera via Soekarno-Hatta), Corridor 3 (Palembang Icon-Terminal Plaju), and Corridor 4 (Terminal Alang-alang Lebar-Talang Jambe), has recently disappeared. The government has discontinued services on these three corridors.

Currently, BRT services are only available on Corridor 2 (Terminal Sako-Palembang Icon) and Corridor 5 (Tanjung Barangan-Palembang Icon) routes. The buses being operated are no longer medium-sized buses. Instead, they have been replaced by small-sized buses, also known as minibuses.

BRT Corridor 1, 3, and 4 users are confused due to the lack of notifications. Practically, the announcement was only made once through the Teman Bus Instagram account on December 31, 2024.

A number of BRT Corridor 1, 3, and 4 users were made to wait for a long time at the bus stops along the corridor in question without any clarity.

They only realized when the admin of the Transport for Palembang account answered several questions received through Instagram messages. The content was a notification that the BRT operations in those three corridors had been terminated by the government.

Muhammad Rizky, the founder of the Transport for Palembang Community, said that many residents, especially students, university students, and workers, are asking why the BRT in the three corridors has not appeared. They, Rizky said, are disappointed after finding out that the BRT in the three corridors is no longer operational.

"Residents are in a frenzy because they have to quickly find alternative transportation modes amidst the increasingly tight school, college, and work hours," said Rizky in Palembang, Wednesday evening (2/5/2025).

Rizky, who founded the Transport for Palembang Community in February 2022, said that the elimination of the three BRT corridors was very detrimental to residents.

He gave an example of students from the Seberang Ilir Palembang area with the destination of Plaju Palembang. All this time, they have relied on BRT corridor 3 because the fare is cheap, Rp 2,000 per trip.

With the removal of the corridor, they have no other public transportation options. The South Sumatra Light Rail (LRT) and LRT feeder vehicles do not cross the main road of the Plaju area.

As a result, only public transportation or angkot is available, which requires at least one vehicle change around Ampera Bridge to get to Plaju from Seberang Ilir. However, for reasons of comfort and safety, angkot is not the main choice.

In addition, not all residents have private vehicles. As a result, most of them are forced to switch to using online motorcycle taxis.

The costs they have to pay also increase several times, which can be Rp. 15,000-Rp. 20,000 per one-way trip.

"Because of its practicality and safety, online motorcycle taxis are the best choice even though the cost can be 10 times more expensive than using the BRT," said Rizky.

According to Rizky, the Palembang City Government must try to restore the BRT service to its original state. At a minimum, the Corridor 3 service must be revived because it is the backbone of the commuters during school or college hours.

"In the Plaju area, there are three fairly large campuses, namely Muhammadiyah University, PGRI University, and Bina Darma University, as well as a number of schools. Most of the students and pupils there come from the Seberang Ilir area," he said.

Acting Mayor of Palembang Cheka Virgowansyah confirmed that the Palembang BRT corridors have shrunk from five to two corridors as of January 1, 2025. This is the impact of budget efficiency by the central government.

Due to this policy, subsidies through the Ministry of Transportation are only provided for Corridor 2. Meanwhile, Corridors 1, 3, and 4 have been temporarily stopped.

In addition, due to budget constraints, the Palembang City Government is only able to fund the operations of Corridor 5, which has the shortest route among all the corridors.

"We have tried to collaborate with the private sector to work together to manage the Palembang BRT. However, due to the occupancy rate being below the standard desired by the private sector, the collaboration has not been realized," he said.

However, Cheka said, his party is not staying silent. The Palembang Transportation Agency is still trying to explore the Ministry of Transportation to continue subsidizing the operations of Corridors 1, 3, and 4.

"Currently, the Acting Head of the Palembang Transportation Agency (Agus Supriyanto) is also in Jakarta for a meeting with the Ministry of Transportation to discuss the possibility of reactivating the three corridors," said Cheka.

Previously, Agus said, with the cessation of BRT Corridor 1, 3, and 4 operations, his party tried to optimize Corridor 2 and 5 services.

This is shown by the expansion of the reach of Corridor 2 and 5 routes. They also provide a new fleet in the form of 13 microbuses for Corridor 2 and 8 units for Corridor 5.

Microbuses were chosen because their size is more appropriate for the road conditions in the two corridors which are relatively not too wide. That way, microbuses can move more effectively compared to using medium or large buses.

"In terms of numbers, the microbus fleet is much larger than the medium-sized bus fleet used previously. This allows for much shorter waiting times for passengers because the arrival time interval can be shorter," Agus explained.

In addition, Agus said, his party optimized the existence of the South Sumatra LRT through the LRT feeder program. Currently, there are seven LRT feeder corridors that deliver passengers for free from residential centers to the nearest LRT station.

In the near future, the LRT feeder corridors will be gradually increased to 17 corridors to reach all residential centers in Palembang.

"We are trying to optimize the existence of LRT to minimize the use of private vehicles along the LRT route from north to south of Palembang. The reduced volume of private vehicles along the route is expected to reduce congestion even though the east-west area of Palembang does not yet have LRT," said Agus.

Head of the Management Department at the Faculty of Economics, Sriwijaya University, Muhammad Ichsan Hadjri, said that the decline in BRT services in Palembang will have a domino effect on the economy and congestion levels in Palembang.

For people who do not have private vehicles, their transportation costs will increase significantly. That, he said, will be an economic burden on the community.

"In the long term, it is possible that the effect will increase the inflation rate. There are additional costs for goods, services, and passengers that must be paid by the community," he said.

On the other hand, Palembang's traffic congestion level has the potential to get worse. Based on the Tomtom Traffic Index 2024 survey, Palembang is the third most congested city in Indonesia with a duration of 27 minutes 55 seconds.

In fact, Palembang's traffic congestion level is much higher than the two largest cities in Indonesia, namely Surabaya in fourth place and Jakarta in fifth place nationally.

The purpose of BRT is to reduce people's dependence on private vehicles. However, if public transportation is not available, people will definitely choose to use private vehicles. Finally, as the number of private vehicles increases and the roads are stagnant (not getting wider or longer), Palembang's congestion will automatically get worse.

With the reduction of BRT services, traffic congestion in Palembang is predicted to be worse. The reason is, psychologically, residents affected by the loss of three BRT corridors will start to think about buying or switching to using private vehicles.

"The purpose of BRT is to reduce people's dependence on private vehicles. However, if public transportation is not available, residents will choose to use private vehicles. Finally, as the number of private vehicles increases and the roads become stagnant, Palembang's congestion will automatically get worse," Ichsan stressed.

Therefore, Ichsan said, the budget efficiency policy must be reviewed by the government. The policy should not be generalized for the basic service sector for people's lives, one of which is the provision of safe, comfortable, and affordable public transportation.

Ichsan said, if budget efficiency is still carried out, at least the government must think about how to keep public transportation served optimally. One way is to collaborate with other parties to operate the service.

"Local governments should not sit idly by expecting subsidies from the center. They should also think about how to meet public transportation needs independently," said Ichsan.

In the past year, with various tourism activities held, the leaders have repeatedly stated that they want to make Palembang a global city. However, the phenomenon of reduced BRT services in Palembang shows that the desire is just a dream.

The reason is, one of the characteristics of a global city is being able to provide safe, comfortable, and affordable public transportation services for its citizens. For that reason, the ideal of making Palembang a global city seems to be far from the fire.