Initiating comprehensive multi-level governance in the planning agencies: lessons learnt from Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) development in Indonesia

Abstraksi

Promoting the use of public transport can bring more social, economics, and environmental benefits. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has been a popular development practice globally especially in the case of Curitiba and Bogota. However, BRT is experiencing slow progress in improving public transport systems in many Indonesian cities due to technical and non-technical problems. Issues of multi-level governance have hindered the coordination and cooperation among vertical and horizontal agencies at central, provincial and local government level. This research aims to initiate collaboration for improving multi-level governance in Indonesia and propose multi-level governance institutions at the metropolitan areas for improving local urban transport policy. Using the theory of multi-level governance, this research examines how lessons learnt from the BRT development can inform the formulation of comprehensive multi-level governance for policy implementation. This research examines the lack of successful implementation of BRT project in Mataram City, as a lesson learnt for improving the quality of public transport services, focusing on institutional and financial aspects. Data is obtained from interviews with local development actors from public and private sectors and further analyses using the stakeholder analysis. The findings suggest that the BRT development needs to incorporate more local stakeholders in negotiating their needs to the central government and developing good quality services for its local people. While forming comprehensive multi-level governance institutions remained elusive, however, some insights from this research inform more opportunities for better collaboration for public service delivery across different government administrative territories.