Urban environmental factors influencing commuter line ridership in the Jakarta Metropolitan Area, Indonesia

As the biggest metropolitan area in the fourth most populous country in the world, the Jakarta Metropolitan Area (JMA) in Indonesia is home to more than 30 million citizens who engage in intercity movement within the region. Commuter lines, comprising on-ground rail transit, are the oldest operating mode of public transportation and the most-used public transportation mode by commuters, while corridors of mass rapid transit (MRT) and light rapid transit (LRT) are being built to enhance commuter mobility. Previous studies have consistently demonstrated that the built environment significantly influences rail transit ridership, highlighting the important role of this mode in metropolitan areas and forming the basis for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD). However, no precedents have been made in the context of JMA. Considering the significance of commuter lines and plans regarding rail transit development in the metropolitan area, as well as the critical role of the built environment around stations in shaping ridership patterns, in this study we explore the influence of the built environment as well as rider perception on the weekday and weekend commuter line ridership in the JMA using place review. Lasso regression analysis showed that the impacts of residential land use types differ, while integration with ride-hailing and motorbike parking, as well as the rate and review sentiments of the station, have significant relationships with ridership count for the rail-based modes. Our results suggest that both the built environment and rider perceptions of station areas play important roles in generating rail transit ridership in the JMA. These findings emphasise the need to consider such characteristics during the future development of currently available and newly built rail transit systems.