ITDP Indonesia supported by ClimateWorks Foundation (CWF) conducted a study on the Acceleration of Environmentally Friendly Urban Mobility in Medan City during 2022-2023 as an alignment of various development plans in Medan City, one of which is the construction of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).

On November 30, 2023, ITDP Indonesia handed over the two documents of Recommendations for Enhancing BRT Accessibility in Medan City and Guidelines for Assessing the Implementation of Electric Bus Pilots in Indonesia represented by ITDP Indonesia’s Interim Director, Gonggomtua E. Sitanggang, to Iswar Lubis, Head of Medan City Transportation Agency as the representative of Medan City Government and Head of Sub-directorate of City Transportation, Directorate of Road Transport, Directorate General of Land Transportation, Ministry of Transportation, Iman Sukandar. Gonggom explained that the output of the two documents is the harmonization of various development plans of BRT Mebidang and evaluation guidelines when Medan City Government wants to run an electric bus trial as part of the BRT implementation.

Iswar added that the Medan City Government highly appreciates ITDP Indonesia for taking part in collaborating to prepare a study on the Scaling Up Clean Urban Mobility in Indonesia which can serve as a reference to overcome the problem of congestion and increased emissions from the use of private motor vehicles through the development of public transportation modes, walking, and cycling. This is in line with the Regional Long-Term Development Plan (RPJPD) of Medan City 2006-2025 and the Regional Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMD) of Medan City 2021-2026.

The next session was the presentation of two documents presented by Mega Primatama, Urban Planning Associate II and Vinensia Nanlohy, Public Transport and Electrification Associate II. Mega said that the document “Recommendations for Enhancing BRT Accessibility in Medan City” was prepared based on field surveys in 2022 to 2023 and Forum Group Discussion (FGD) activities involving relevant government and private agencies such as the Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of Public Works and Housing, North Sumatra Provincial Transportation Office, Medan City Regional Development Planning Agency, Medan City Transportation Office, Medan City Water Resources, Bina Marga, and Bina Konstruksi Office, Medan City Housing, Settlement Area, and Spatial Planning Office, and PT Kereta Api Indonesia Regional Division I North Sumatra. Regarding the “Assessing the Implementation of Electric Bus Pilots in Indonesia,” Vinensia explained that the document can be a guide for cities in Indonesia including Medan in operating electric buses because it contains lessons learned and evaluations from the implementation of electric buses in Jakarta and globally.

These two documents are expected to assist the Medan City Government in implementing various sustainable and equitable transportation development plans for all.

The document can be accessed at: https://bit.ly/aksesbrtmedan & https://bit.ly/panduanbuslistrik