Reduction of CO, NOx and SO₂ emissions from the transfer of private vehicles to public transportation: A case study of Surabaya

Surabaya as the center of economic activities in eastern Indonesia suffers significant growth of vehicles annually. This increase has tremendous impact towards the environment, including air pollution, mainly comes from private vehicle users. Therefore, users of private vehicles should be limited in order maintain air quality. The use of this private vehicle can be limited by offering them adequate public transportation. This study aims to investigate the reduction of pollutants, namely CO, NO₂, and SO₂ emissions, which is obtained from the shift of private vehicles to public transportation, in this case, buses and paratransit. Results show that there are 77% of private vehicle users who are willing to shift to public transportation if the facilities of these modes are significantly improved. The reduction of CO, NOx, and SO2 every year reach up to 385,264.894 tons of CO/year; 12,292.303 tons NOx/year, and 365.689 tons SO₂/year, respectively. However, due to the limited number of buses and paratransit, the public transportation may accommodate as many as 10% from the private vehicle users. This shows immediate action from the government is required not only to improve the quality but also quantity of public transport modes.