Highlights of Public Transport Condition in Medan

• Public transport in Medan suffers from declining in ridership in recent years
• Old vehicle have been deteriorating over the last 10 years, and they have been left by passengers
• Growing congestion in Medan has also decrease public transport journey speed, and many passengers prefer to use motorcycle instead, which is currently faster
• However, the potential to upgrade the public transport is still open. Currently there are more than 100 routes operate in Medan, the biggest found in any cities outside Jakarta
• Upgrade the current public transport through a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, would attract many passengers for public transport, as BRT offer faster travel journey, as well as convenience

BRT Project Objective

• The BRT project in Medan aims to improve public transport, which will reduce the private vehicle use, and eventually reduce the GHG emissions from transport sector
• BRT offers many benefit for passengers, and travel time saving is the biggest benefit provided by the BRT
• With BRT, passengers will save travel time, travel cost and reduce emissions from travelling
• BRT is a the 21st century form of Mass Rapid Transit, a true revolution from the metro system
• It is cheaper to build and operate, faster to implement and does not require very sophisticated technology to run the system

Direct Service BRT Project Proposal

• For Medan, the proposal for BRT is to build a so-called ‘direct-service’ BRT system
• 18.5 kilometer of BRT corridor will be built, covering from Jalan Sisingamangaraja to Jalan Gatot Subroto, split as 2 corridor
• With ‘Direct-service’ BRT system, the BRT buses will serve the BRT corridor and beyond the corridor, covering larger area outside the BRT corridor
• Although the proposal will only consider 2 BRT corridor, but there will be 26 BRT routes operate inside and outside the corridor, carrying an estimate of 350,000 passengers daily in the opening year.
• ‘direct-service’ BRT is a latest development of BRT and has been proven to be effectively carry passengers from outside the BRT corridor area into the BRT

Proposed BRT Routes

• The bus operator will run the BRT service under service contract with the BRT regulator
• The BRT regulator pay the service payment per kilometer of bus travelled
• All fare revenue will be collected by the BRT regulator and all revenue will go to BRT regulator
• Fare is set at 5,000 Rupiah per passengers (0.42 USD)
• Fare adjustment is also expected to occur every 3 years, to reflect operational cost increase

Infrastructure Design  Station Concept

• Stations are built with ‘off-set’ concept, to allow overtaking lane at the station
• Stations are also split to save space on the road, so that the space can be used for overtaking lane
• 4 buses can stop at the same time for each direction, allowing rapid boarding and alighting
• With this station, more than 150 buses per hour per direction can pass the station, ensuring high capacity BRT system in Medan
• With high capacity stations and multiple routes, Medan BRT is expected to carry around 350,000 passengers per day, with 5% increase every year

BRT Station

• 32 BRT Stations will be built along the 18.5 kilometer long of BRT Corridors
• The station length vary from 50 meter long up to 220 meter long, depending on the passenger volume and bus frequency passing each stations
• BRT stations are designed to accommodate up to 4 buses stopping at the same time, to increase the capacity of the BRT system

Illustration of BRT Station at Medan

Location: Masjid Raya

Planning & Construction Stage

• Project implementer is a consortium of companies, with ITDP responsible for planning of design of the system
• Project implementer will have a 10 year concession with government to build-operate and transfer the projects after 10 years
• Government’s responsibilities are set the fare and adjust the fare, dealing with existing bus operator, and provide operational subsidy in case of any significant increase in fuel price and minimum salary
• Government is also responsible for infrastructure maintenance outside the BRT station (BRT lane, intersection, traffic light, pedestrian access)
• Project implementer has the rights to use space available at stations and on BRT buses for advertisement space.
• Capital investment payment and loan repayment will be the responsibility of project implementer, with 8 years payback period within 10 years (2 years of grace period)
• The capital investment needed is around USD 35 million to build the infrastructure (station, BRT lane, ITS facility and ticketing)
• Buses will be procured by bus operator through lease from the bank, with the guarantee of service contract or the guarantee from the government

Operational Stage

• Project implementer will establish a BRT regulating body to run the whole BRT service
• BRT regulator will hire bus operator, collect fare and perform ITS and station maintenance for 10 years
• Operational loan might be needed to cover the operational cost for the first 3 years, estimated at USD 2.5 million per year.
• Fare revenue will be used to pay service payment for bus operator, and overhead cost of the BRT regulator, including fare collection, ITS and maintenance, estimated at 8% of the total cost
• Operational profit gained from fare revenue will be used by project implementer for loan repayment (both capital and operational loan). Net profit/loss after loan repayment will be borne by the project implementer
• Government should guarantee the fare adjustment is made every 3 years, with around 0.1 USD per adjustment.

Role of ITDP

• Institute for Transportation & Development Policy (ITDP) as a global promotor of sustainable transportation for 30 years, will help the project implementer to implement the project
• ITDP has vast experience in designing, planning and implementing high quality BRT system around the world, with 54 BRT systems worldwide were designed, supported and inspired by ITDP in the past 10 years, and have helped to reduce 7 millions tons of CO2 emissions worldwide
• ITDP will be part of the consortium of companies as project implementer, responsible for planning and design of the system, and provide technical support during operational stage
• ITDP will also facilitate the negotiation between the project implementer and the government of Medan, whom ITDP has good relationship with
• In this proposal, ITDP will act as promotor of the project, while at the same time finding the suitable private partner to implement the project with