IPB University Student Research: MRT User Satisfaction Rate Reaches 85 Percent
Jakarta is known as the most populous city in Indonesia. Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2015, the population density of DKI Jakarta reached 15,663 inhabitants/kilometer (km) square. This has caused the movement/mobility of Jakarta residents to become more congested. The high mobility of the population of the capital has not been matched by the availability of safe and comfortable public transportation.
This has led to the growth of private motorized vehicles, both four-wheeled vehicles and motorbikes from year to year are very rapid and not comparable with the growth of road length. To overcome the complicated transportation problem in DKI Jakarta, the DKI Jakarta Government is building a mass-scale rapid transit system Mass Rapid Transit/MRT.
Three students from the Economic Development Study Program of the Faculty of Economics and Management of IPB University who are members of the Student Creativity Program in Social Sciences Research Program (PKM – PSH) conducted research related to the effectiveness of public transportation services in the capital city. The team consists of Natasya Putri Erinda, Nurul Aidatul Fitriah, and Sherin Safitri, guided by Dr. Ir Wiwiek Rindayanti, M.Sc. This research is motivated by the curiosity of these students regarding how much the influence of the existence of MRT as a breakthrough that can solve the dense mobility problem in Jakarta.
Natasya, the Chair of the research team said that based on the calculation of the Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI), the index of consumer satisfaction using MRT transportation service users showed a value of 85.10 percent. This means that the level of satisfaction of MRT users has been fulfilled and included in the category of very satisfied. MRT transportation services that have been operating in the Jakarta area since March 2019 have given satisfaction to users and can be declared effective.
Since it began operating on April 1, 2019, for one month of operation, there are an average of 82,615 passengers using the MRT every day. Most people experience a decrease in the average cost incurred for transportation and estimated travel time to their destination after using MRT transportation services. This integrated transportation development aims to increase the effectiveness of efficient, safe and comfortable distribution and reduce vehicle mobility in the Jakarta area.
“The construction of the MRT will later become one of the government’s alternatives so that residents of Jakarta, who have mostly used private vehicles are expected to switch to using this transportation service. Based on the results of the study, MRT is not yet 100 percent effective because in terms of consumer satisfaction the average level of performance is still lower than the average level of importance. This shows that there are still many factors that need to be improved by managers of MRT transportation services,” Natasya added.
The team also recommended several things to the MRT manager such as infographic socialization in the form of print or electronic media. These infographics are widely disseminated through social media platforms, websites and so on so that the information on emergency and security systems can be widely known to passengers. In addition, in order to have more attractiveness for passengers, the manager can provide promos and discounts so that passengers prefer MRT compared to private vehicles.
“There needs to be an increase in the number of lanes and stations that reach across the Jakarta area, namely East Jakarta, West Jakarta, and North Jakarta, so that MRT transportation services can be reached by users spread across the Jakarta area. Our hope is that the MRT will grow and reach throughout the Jakarta area. Because at the moment, it is still in the Central Jakarta Region – South Jakarta. And in the long run it is expected to be able to operate in all regions of Indonesia, “he said. (RYS)
