JAKARTA – In order to accelerate public transport electrification through e-bus transition in Indonesia, Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) held ‘E-Bus Workshop: Indonesia E-Bus Roadmap and Financing Strategy’ that took place in Jakarta, 17-19 October 2022, and aimed to provide capacity building in two aspects that have been a challenge for Indonesia in implementing e-bus; the road map and long-term financing.

This workshop attended by the local government representatives from seven cities in Indonesia (Bandung, Bogor, Denpasar, Palembang, Pekanbaru, Semarang, and Medan), and a number of TUMI’s partner of non-governmental organizations, namely World Resources Institute (WRI) Indonesia, Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), Institute for Transportation Development Policy (ITDP), International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), International Association of Public Transportation (UITP), and C40 Cities.  

Of his opening remarks on the first day, Head of Transport Policy Agency, Ministry of Transportation Republic of Indonesia Dr. Gede Pasek Suardika said, “Electric vehicles is inevitability, becomes the best solution for current transport systems and future, as a form of innovation as well as a solution to reduce the use of non-renewable fuels.” 

According to Dr. Gede Pasek Suardika, there are six steps that can be considered to push and accelerate e-bus development in Indonesia, such as, first implementing incentive policy, tax relief, import duty, and export development in accord with Presidential Decree No. 55 of 2019 concerning the Acceleration of Battery Based Electric Motor Vehicle Program for Road Transportation. Second, establishing electric vehicles integrated ecosystem. Third, by financial support. Fourth, providing an electric car development centre. Five, incorporating all stakeholders, including central and local governments. And six, by integrating governments’ policy.  

“Through this e-bus workshop that is organized by TUMI, we hope we can get support, advice, and ideas from all parties to enrich the formulation of transportation policy,” said Dr. Gede Pasek Suardika.  

TUMI Management Head, Jens Giersdorf, said, “TUMI E-Bus Mission supports the partner cities’ effort to adopt public transportation in sustainable and socially just way, and promotes all the cities around the globe to achieve the procurement of 100,000-unit e-bus by 2025. TUMI E-Bus Mission would like to congratulate to partner cities in Indonesia and welcome the commitment to the electrification of public transportation through cooperative and peer to peer learning, that is expected to be beneficial not only for the city, but also for the industry.” 

Deputy Program Climate, Energy, City, and Ocean World Resources Institute (WRI) Indonesia, Almo Pradana, as the organizer of the workshop representing the TUMI E-Bus Mission in Indonesia, stated, “Together with the TUMI coalition, WRI Indonesia sees that the adoption of electric based public transportation is an urging solution to be implemented in Indonesia’s cities. TUMI coalition believes the utilization of e-bus could minimise three transportation problems in Indonesia, namely congestion, high carbon emissions and air pollution, as well as traffic accidents.” 

TUMI E-Bus Workshop unites the strength and networks from all TUMI partners in Indonesia (WRI, ICLEI, ITDP, UITP, and C40) through capacity building on regulation, planning, and strategy, also becomes a means of collaboration and dialogue between stakeholders, transportation experts, and partner cities in Indonesia that have started piloting the implementation of e-bus. 

Apart from the series of trainings, on the last day (19/10) the workshop participants took part in a tour using e-bus of PT Transjakarta with a route 1N Tanah Abang – Blok M, and was facilitated by PT Transjakarta and ICLEI Indonesia. In this tour, participants received an explanation regarding the Jakarta e-bus ecosystem which consists of the operation, management, and buses maintenance and charging stations.  

TUMI E-Bus Mission is a global coalition consisting of several non-governmental organizations that provide assistance or technical support to cities around the globe in accelerating the implementation of e-bus. In Indonesia, the TUMI E-Bus Mission has provided in-depth technical support for Jakarta and make it as a reference city for the 7 selected network cities through learning and capacity building.