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The Busworld exhibition and conference was organised in JIexpo in Jakarta from 20 to 22 March 2019. The first edition welcomed the biggest and most popular bus and coach builders and bodybuilders of Indonesia: Mercedes-Benz, Volvo Buses via its importer Wahana Inti Selaras, New Armada and Laksana. Almost 6,900 unique visitors came to the venue from Jakarta and beyond to check out the latest designs of buses and coaches, components and spare parts, combined with attending presentations at the Conference organised by Busworld Academy.
The general experience of the exhibition was very premium. Firstly it looked splendid. The exhibitors made a great effort to design and build their booths and the whole venue looked very attractive. Secondly the quality level of the press conferences and animation in the booths was comparable with the exhibition in Europe. Mercedes-Benz unveiled its OF 917 coach with an impressive musical show. On the Volvo booth Akash Passey, Senior Vice President of Volvo Buses,
was leading the press conference to present the Volvo B11R and the Volvo BR8 range, showing full support to his Indonesian importer. Laksana invited the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Lestari and the Ambassador for Bangladesh in Indonesia, H.E. Major General Azmal Kabir to inaugurate their four brand new Laksana SR2 XHD Prime Legacy coaches that were about to be exported to Bangladesh. The ceremony took place on the open air premises in between the
JIexpo halls.
Being a bus bodybuilder market, Indonesia has some very big chassis manufacturers, like Mercedes-Benz and Volvo Buses and many bodybuilders, big, medium and small sized. New Armada and Laksana, present at Busworld, belong to the top. Askarindo, the federation of bus bodybuilders in Indonesia, was very pleased about the partnership with Busworld and confirmed their willingness to continue this partnership in the future.
The decision and matchmaker in this bodybuilding system is: The Operator. Especially if he’s a private entrepreneur. First he picks out a chassis in the assortment of the different chassis manufacturers without any restrictions, the brand can be European, Chinese, Japanese, etc. Then he orders the body of his choice that will be fitted onto the chassis. New body designs are being launched on a regular basis, almost like in the car industry. And last but not least he needs to install the very important A/C system. All stages are invoiced separately and the different suppliers have little influence on the decisions regarding the selection of the other suppliers. The operators were represented through a partnership with Ipomi, the federation of young bus and coach operators in Indonesia. Its frontman Kurnia Lesani Adnan said that for his members, an exhibition combined with a conference was of extreme importance.
Didier Ramoudt, president of Busworld International, visited all the booths on the last exhibition day and concluded afterwards: ”I am very happy to hear that the exhibitors are all satisfied about their participation and willing to come back in two years. The market in Indonesia was clearly waiting for a bus only exhibition. I am sure that together with our two main partners, Askarindo and Ipomi, we will double the size of the exhibition in 2021!”
A visit of Busworld Southeast Asia can perfectly be combined with a visit to the TransJakarta BRT system. The international press was invited on a TransJakarta tour by ITDP (Institute for Transportation and Development Policy) and were impressed. TransJakarta has the world's longest BRT system with its 251 km in length. Averagely it serves 663,000 passengers per day. TransJakarta is also looking into the electrification of their fleet. An electric bus of BYD was presented in their booth and also outside the halls performing test drives. International suppliers admitted to be impressed about the business opportunities and developments in Indonesia and indicated they would have to update their strategies and include the Indonesian market in their plans. Baki Lee, President Director of GEM Indonesia, co-organising partner of Busworld confirmed: “The focus of the next edition will be much more on electric buses. We will not only grow in size, but will also diversify.”
The Indonesian bus market is rapidly growing due to expansions in public and tourism transport and an urgent need of renewal of the fleet. The perfect timing to start the organisation of Busworld exhibitions and conferences in Jakarta.
The Busworld Academy Conference
Also the Conference organised by Busworld Academy had a very good first edition with 350 delegates and 4 international partners: UNCRD, UN-HABITAT, UCLG-ASPAC and UITP. With this mind-blowing list of partners the attendance turned out to be very international too.
At the end of the conference titled “Making Bus Transport Systems Attractive, Efficient and Affordable in Southeast Asia” an official “Jakarta Declaration” was drawn up and adopted by all the partners. While promoting bus transport and moving towards zero emission, the partners stand committed to address safety, comfort, accessibility and affordability in this sector. The Jakarta Declaration is published in full on the Busworld websites.
A second edition of Busworld Southeast Asia will take place in two years in Jakarta in the same venue, JIexpo from 24 to 26 March 2021.