Ministry Mulls over Operating O-Bahn, a Mix of BRT and LRT
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24 June 2019 08:56 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Transportation Ministry is mulling over the operation of O-Bahn, a transportation combination of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT), which is claimed to be more efficient than Transjakarta despite high construction cost.
“In general, the construction cost of O-Bahn is 20 percent higher than that of the Transjakarta Bus. But the operational cost is cheaper compared to the total production,” said the ministry railway director general Zulfikri in a discussion in Jakarta, Sunday, June 23.
Based on the ministry data, the capital cost for an averaged 11-kilometer track of O-Bahn is AUD0.14 per passenger per kilometer, and the operation cost is AUD0.22 per passenger per kilometer. So the total cost is AUD0.36 per passenger per kilometer.
When compared to other buses with an average track of 8 kilometers, the capital cost and the operational cost take AUD0.10 and AUD35 per passenger per kilometer, respectively. The total cost is then AUD0.45 per passenger per kilometer.
Meanwhile for trains with an averaged 20-kilometer railway, its capital and operational costs are AUD0.26 and AUD0.19 per passenger per kilometer, respectively. So the total cost is AUD0.45 per passenger per kilometer.
With a special guided busway, O-Bahn is better in speed than BRT. For example in Nagoya, Japan, a bus that had previously traveled 12 kilometers per hour reached 30 kilometers per hour.
O-Bahn, Zulfikri added, had been set in a few countries, namely China, Australia, and Japan. This transportation was initially built in regions with no access to trains, such as in Adelaide, Australia.
When asked about the city that would construct the transportation, Zulfikri said that it needed thorough research, and so he was unsure when it would operate in Indonesia. “We will discuss it and conduct a detailed study.”
CAESAR AKBAR