Jakarta’s provincial administration wants to revise TransJakarta’s governing rules, allowing the public bus operator to expand into sea and air transport while raising its authorised capital from 5.225 trillion rupiah to 13.4 trillion rupiah. The plan puts transport funds and the cost of ambitious new services on the table, and residents and lawmakers are asking who would actually use them.
Doddy, a 45-year-old roadside seller of gorengan, or fried snacks, laughed at the idea of flying over the capital. “Of course, I would love to see Jakarta from above. Everyone down below will look like tiny ants, right?” he said. But a helicopter view isn’t the same as a ride within reach. “I do not think someone like me would ever get the chance to ride in a helicopter. Maybe the only things of mine that will ever fly are my fried banana and tapioca – as an in-flight snack!”
Sheila, a 28-year-old marketing executive, asked the basic question behind the grand plan: “How many passengers can a helicopter carry, and how much would a ticket cost? Surely, it cannot be the same cheap fare we pay for a TransJakarta bus ride.”
The price of taking the city skyward
A standard TransJakarta bus fare is 3,500 rupiah (S$0.25). The existing network carried 329.2 million passenger journeys in the first nine months of 2026, and Jakarta’s provincial administration projected 438.5 million for the full year. Officials want the operator to consider services far removed from that everyday fare, though the governor hasn’t specified what aircraft might be used.
Private helicopter services already operate in Jakarta. Whitesky Aviation offers charters and city transfers, with rates starting at about 32 million rupiah an hour for smaller helicopters, chief commercial officer Ari Nurwanda told local news website Detikcom in August 2025. That price stands in stark contrast to a 3,500-rupiah public bus ride.
Deddy Herlambang, a senior researcher at Strategic Transport Initiatives (INSTRAN), questioned whether helicopters make financial sense for a city trying to improve mass transport. “It makes no sense to use helicopters as mass public transport, like public minibuses, because large helicopters are extremely expensive,” he told The Straits Times. “The money would be better spent purchasing more TransJakarta non-BRT buses,” he said. These buses use ordinary roads, not dedicated bus lanes, and extend the network beyond its main corridors.
Boats, budgets and the people paying
The more immediate expansion is at sea. TransJakarta is due to take over public boat services to the Thousand Islands, a cluster off Jakarta’s northern coast, by June 2027. The governor says the operator could run the services more efficiently and cheaply. TransJakarta says the takeover should make island travel easier and support local businesses and tourism.
Low fares may still depend on public subsidies. Deddy said Jakarta’s regional budget could afford the expansion into sea transport and suggested an affordable fare range of 25,000 rupiah to 50,000 rupiah. The city is also considering a subsidiary to operate the boats. Island residents depend on the route, so the proposed operator’s structure and service funding matter to them, not just to officials overseeing the expansion.
At an Oct 7 plenary session of the Jakarta Legislative Council, lawmakers from several political parties questioned the cost and whether TransJakarta should move beyond buses. Legislator Francine Widjojo said, “The public should not have to pay for this expansion through higher fares or reduced services within the city.” The council is debating the plan. Passengers’ concern is what they could lose if expansion takes money or service away from the existing network.
The governor’s vision meets the fare question
Speaking to reporters on Oct 4, Governor Pramono Anung said Jakarta has 11 million residents and the wider metropolitan area has 42 million. “It is inconceivable for a metropolitan area of this size not to have air transport,” he said. He cited helicopters as one possibility and said Jakarta should establish rules and permits before such services become necessary, pointing to New York, which he recently visited, as a city that already regulates air transport.
Aisah, a 38-year-old administrative worker, welcomed the prospect of avoiding peak-hour rushes. “No more rushing during peak hours? That would be wow,” she told The Straits Times. She said TransJakarta’s efficient bus network could make expansion into air and sea a good next step. Her optimism comes as the cost question remains unresolved: the city hasn’t specified the aircraft, while a transport researcher says more ordinary-road buses would make better use of the money.
The air plan remains part of Jakarta’s medium- to long-term plans. Aviation authorities across the Asia-Pacific are preparing rules for electric flying taxis, but Jakarta hasn’t announced plans to use them. For now, TransJakarta faces a less glamorous test: connecting the islands and keeping services affordable without making city passengers pay through higher fares or fewer buses.