Bus Rapid Transit Gone Awry in Solo, Indonesia? Lessons for Sustainable Transportation in a Motorcycle City

Over the past 15 years, the number of global Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines has increased exponentially. However, a number of these new lines offer low quality service and have failed to have the transformative impacts of better-known systems. This paper examines the history and challenges of developing BRT in Solo, a medium-sized Indonesian city,where motorcycles dominate the local urban transportation system.Due to low ridership, Solo’s new bus lines—developed as part of a national policy to expand BRT to Indonesia’s largest cities—have had little to no influence on air quality, economic activity, or accessibility. The findings suggest that BRT is not always an appropriate sustainable transport policy, even in cities with high densities, low incomes, and poor existing transit service. Furthermore, there remains a need for transferable sustainable transportation models for the world’s many fast-growing, medium-sized motorcycle cities.

Supplemental Notes:
- This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AP050 Standing Committee on Bus Transit Systems.
Corporate Authors:
Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001
Authors:
- Guerra, Erick
- Taylor, John
Conference:
- Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting
- Location: Washington DC, United States
- Date: 2017-1-8 to 2017-1-12
Date: 2017

Language

English

Media Info

Media Type: Digital/other
Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
Pagination: 13p
Monograph Title: TRB 96th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

TRT Terms: Bus rapid transit; Developing countries; History; Motorcycling; Sustainable transportation
Geographic Terms: Indonesia
Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

Accession Number: 01623293
Record Type: Publication
Report/Paper Numbers: 17-00750
Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
Created Date: Jan 24 2017 3:31PM