Jakarta’s smart city urged to ‘catch up’ with citizens

The Jakarta Government’s technology use needs to “catch up” with what citizens need, head of the city’s transport council has said. “We suggest the city administration develop its IT system to catch up with what the people need.

Jakarta has indeed had the Smart City system but it still needs to be improved and more widely promoted in the city,” said Ellen Tankudung, head of the Jakarta Transport Council, which advises the Governor on transport issues - according to the Jakarta Post.

In particular, the city needs to attract more motorists to use public buses, she said, adding that 3.8 million private cars and 14.5 million motorbikes travel on the city’s roads per day.

She called on the government to create an app that would help citizens find buses to take. It should provide citizens with information on the location of bus stops, and journey times on buses, allowing them to plan their trip, she added.

Jakarta’s Smart City Unit has said that it plans to tie up with taxi app companies to provide citizens with bus information, rather than building its apps.

For instance, it is providing bus locations through Go-Jek’s app. This can help the government improve services faster, instead of reinventing the wheel.