Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) Indonesia country director Yoga Adiwinarto said BRT is the perfect match for a place like Penang.
He said it is the best system to graduate to larger rail systems as it does not require a lot of money, compared with LRT or MRT.
By spending less on a BRT system, the service coverage is significantly larger than that of an LRT system, he said.
“If you have a limited budget, you must invest wisely and do it right away before traffic gets worse.
“BRT ensures increased speed, efficiency and wider coverage. It also comes with a great trigger, where people will be more inclined to walk and cycle.
“LRT, on the other hand, has a smaller capacity and lower coverage, but at a higher cost,” Yoga said at a talk at Think City here today.
He gave an example of what US$1 billion (RM4.11 billion) could do for a BRT system.
“BRT could give you a 426km network at that price, while just 40km for LRT, 14km for an ‘elevated metro’ and just 7km for an underground subway system.”
Yoga said Indonesia’s Jakarta BRT system, the TransJakarta, was the first in Asean and was a success story.
It carried 700,000 people a day and has become a favourite among the local folk to escape the worst car traffic in the region.
He said it took Jakarta city authorities three years from 2001 to develop the BRT system.
It has been rapidly expanded at a cost of US$1.1 billion since then.
Today, Yoga said it is touted to be the largest BRT network in the world.
“The Penang chief minister and Penang Island mayor should visit TransJakarta BRT and similar systems used in Bogota and Guangzhou.
“Jakarta’s BRT is 225km long, with 13 corridors and 155 routes.
“I am confident this system can be replicated through RapidPenang, with just two to three minutes’ waiting time.”
Yoga was in town to deliver a talk titled “The need for sustainable and equitable mobility in cities” hosted by Think City. He was in town at the invitation of the chief minister.
‘Penang’s future town planning must change’
Yoga said Penang, like other states in the country, should shed the idea of developing around cars, and instead “build to move people”.
He said for starters, streets should be equally shared by cars, BRT or streetcars, and pedestrians. He said this way has been proven to move more people and boost businesses in town centres.
“Streets are for everyone, including pedestrians. All it needs is political will. If your chief minister wants it, you can have it.
“Let us widen your sidewalks for more pedestrians. Add bus stops and you immediately double your movement. Why build your city for cars, when people live in cities, not cars?”
Yoga said while the people of Penang might argue that the streets are too small for such an arrangement, it should look at Lima, Peru, which had a nearly identical street width of 30m, like in George Town.
He said the shining example is Guangzhou, where its shared roads system moves one million people a day, including a BRT system, pedestrian lanes and car lanes.
Yoga said during his visit to Melaka and George Town, he had realised that there was a sea of cars parked alongside roads, and it was difficult to navigate the towns on foot.
He said many five-footways are blocked and were also difficult for the disabled to navigate.
“Crossing Penang’s streets is difficult and dangerous. Not all intersections have zebra crossings. Melaka is worse, at its Unesco site.
“I see Kuala Lumpur having better pedestrian walkways and is well connected to transit points.
“But the bottom line is when people go to Penang or Melaka, they are not here to see cars.”