Abstract
Over the past five years, Indonesia's central government has encouraged the spread of bus rapid transit (BRT) systems many cities. In Palembang, efforts to introduce and manage a BRT-like have been relatively successful while similar efforts have encountered several hurdles in Bandung. What explains the varying degrees of success that Palembang and Bandung have experienced with BRT-like programs? This article aims to answer this question by employing an analytical framework that focuses on three governance variables: 1) capacity building; 2) stakeholder engagement and 3) resource mobilization. More concretely, this article argue Palembang relatively greater success stems from technical assistance that strengthened local capacities to develop and operate system; engagement mechanisms that brought incumbent operators and other stakeholder into important decision making process; and a regionally owned company that allocated additional resources. In contrast, the Bandung BRT-like did paid limited attention to building technical capacities, strengthening stakeholder engagement and allocating resources, resulting in a comparatively substandard performance of its BRT-like. Overall, the case of these two BRT-like’s underlines that replicating good practices in transport sector necessitates attention to how governance affect not on the technical but social feasibility of low carbon technologies.
