MRT stands for Mass Rapid Transit, which literally means a mode of transportation that can carry large numbers passengers quickly. Several types of MRT:

•Based on physical forms: BRT (Bus Rapid Transit), LRT (Light Rail Transit) which is an electric-railed train, operated using a railway coach as short as monorail and Heavy Rail Transit which has capacities as large as the current Jabodetabek.
•Based on Service Area: Metro which is the urban heavy rail transit and Commuter Rail which is a form of MRT to carry passengers from the suburbs into the city and brought them back to the buffer zone (suburban).

The type of MRT that will be built by PT MRT Jakarta is the rail-based MRT Heavy Rail Transit type.

The direct impact of MRT system is increasing people’s mobility, which will instantly propel the economic growth in the city and improve the quality of citizen’s life.

The establishment of MRT Jakarta is also expected to bring along some other positive impacts to Jakarta and its citizens, such as:
•Creating employment: it is estimated that around 48,000 skills will be required during the construction project

•Cutting off travel time: while it took 1-2 hours to reach Bundaran HI from Lebak Bulus at rush hour, MRT is expected to reduce it to only approximately 30 minutes. Similarly, Lebak Bulus-Kampung Bandan route is expected to be completed in  approximately 51 minutes

•Environmental impact: MRT will reduce up to 0.7% of the total CO2 emission per year of about 93,663 tons (Data Revised Implementation Program for Jakarta MRT System 2005)

•Transit Oriented Development (TOD)-based construction, where MRT system serves as the driving factor of city planning restoration. The integration of transit-urban is targeted to drive economy growth in the area surrounding MRT stations, which in turn will increase the number of MRT Jakarta passengers.  

•Increasing the capacity of public transportation: MRT Jakarta is expected to transport up to 412,000 users every day along Lebak Bulus-Bundaran HI route in the third year of its operational, supported by the transit-urban integration that connects Jakarta stations with public activity centers, such as office buildings as well as commercial and non-commercial buildings. The convenient and strategic connection between MRT stations and these public activity centers will be a competitive factor for the premise itself, as more people will visit commercial center and more companies will occupy office buildings.

Unlike the monorail project undertaken by the private sector (business to business), MRT Jakarta is a project funded by the government mainly through Japanese foreign loans from Japan International Cooperation Agency/JICA (Government to Government). The Indonesian Government and DKI Jakarta Provincial Government guarantee the funds’ availability and this MRT system operational sustainability. In addition, MRT Jakarta also has different route and qualifications than the monorail.

MRT Jakarta is projected to operate from 5.00 to 24.00 WIB. During the first year of its operational, headway time would be 5 minutes, and we target to reduce it to 3 or 4 minutes in the upcoming year.
This schedule will be laid out in an MRT Jakarta Trip Chart to which MRT Jakarta operational is bound. MRT Jakarta will also apply an integrated control system to ensure operational schedule accuracy.

MRT is not the only solution for Jakarta traffic problem; it is a part of a big scheme to solve the problem, as well as other instruments as follow:

•Integration to law products and policies: increasing traffic discipline, limiting vehicle volume through ERP (electronic road pricing) as well as other traffic engineering such as intelligent traffic system, traffic management improvement, and physical infrastructure such as fly over and underpass. Another option is to set MRT Jakarta ticket price at the most affordable rate. Various policies can be made either using financial instrument, such as increasing tax for personal vehicle and pricing policies (road pricing, fuel pricing, parking pricing), or without financial instrument, such as the odd-even policy and “3 in 1” policy.

•Integration to other transportation mode: to allow MRT Jakarta passengers reach MRT stations conveniently as well as to drive passengers number, MRT Jakarta system can be integrated to other mass transportation mode such as city bus, Trans Jakarta, or Jabodetabek railway system.  As well as establishing a new network for MRT system, DKI Jakarta Provincial Government is working with the Central Government to develop an optimization for the existing loopline as part of the Jabodetabek urban railway system. As is illustrated in the DKI Jakarta area planning, the loopline system will be integrated with the MRT network. DKI Jakarta Administration targets to complete the optimization before the Phase 1 of MRT Jakarta operate.

•Supportive facilities such as park and ride system, adequate pedestrian and park. People who reside or do their activities around MRT Jakarta railway line will get the direct benefit of MRT Jakarta, while those who live far away can feel safe to leave their personal vehicle to access MRT with feeder. Such system will encourage people to use MRT instead of personal vehicle. MRT Jakarta stations will also be connected to public activity centers, such as office buildings as well as commercial and non-commercial buildings. The convenient and strategic connection between MRT stations and these public activity centers will be a competitive factor for the premise itself, as more people will visit commercial center and more companies will occupy office buildings.