Readiness of Operating Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Purwokerto-Purbalingga towards Smart City Concept

Abstract

Recently, smart city is a popular discussion. In Indonesia, some cities have been implemented to follow Government Information Communication and Technology (ICT) development program. One of smart city domain is society and it has transportation as the component. One of the approaches to encounter the urban complexities are developed public transportation. As case study, Purwokerto and Purbalingga has been implemented Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) as new public transportation. The concept is similar with others BRT. Operational of BRT shall be supported by society to guarantee the sustainability. As information, both cities are developing cities that will implement smart city design and society become critical element to develop city to be planned smart city. This study measures the readiness of both cities initiative to implement smart city concept, specifically at transportation component through BRT Purwokerto-Purbalingga operation. The used methods are quantitative and qualitative analysis. Quantitative analysis is using statistical method to find correlation between socioeconomic or demographics and BRT ridership perceptions. The result is there is significantly difference BRT perception as reliable transportation for residences and routines of BRT use. Moreover, there is statistically difference between perception of BRT as alternative mass transportation with ridership residence and gender. As smart city initiative measurement using qualitative methods, supported smart city in BRT operation gain readiness of ICT, governance and human or society. By this finding, BRT operation shall improve governance and ICT enablers to come up with smart city initiative.