The Impact of an Operational Information System Design when
Controlling the Operational Costs of an Urban Rail Transit System in
Surabaya
Debby Ratna Daniel, Ivana Laksmono, Rizka Baby Hermanto
Faculty of Business and Economic, Airlangga University,Dharmawangsa,Surabaya, Indonesia
debby-r-d@feb.unair.ac.id, {ivanalaksmono88,bebyhermanto}@gmail.com
Keywords: Operational Costs, Operational Information System (OIS), Urban Rail Transit System.
Abstract: Urban rail transit systems are excellent systems that should be used in Indonesia, especially in the city of
Surabaya. This type of transportation system is currently being planned by the Surabaya city government.
This planning has resulted two ideas for future transportation systems: “Boyo Rail” for the monorail system
and “Suro Tram” for the tram system. The presence of these two new transportation systems is expected to
help the government solve the congestion problem in the city of Surabaya. This research will help the
government to determine the selling price of tickets for each passenger through an operational information
system (OIS) whose design is based on the operational costs required to support the success of the urban rail
transit system in Surabaya. This research used a qualitative approach to answer the question with using the
literature on the subject in order to create an operational information system that can control operational
costs. The results of this research will be used to compare the costs-of-goods-sold (COGS) report, the
income report and the internal control of operational costs.
1 INTRODUCTION
Surabaya, as the capital city of East Java and the
second biggest city in Indonesia, has a population
that reached over 2.7 million in 2010 and a wide
territory of up to 326,81 km² (Surabaya Central
Bureau of Statistics Department, 2010).
Rismaharini, the current mayor of Surabaya, stated
that this city is a major growth center for the East
Indonesian region’s manufacturing and agricultural
sector (Rismaharini, 2008).
Furthermore, Surabaya can be classified as the
busiest city in Indonesia, where congestion has
become a major problem. This problem has
happened due to the increasing number of vehicles
in the city; there were 1,368,000 vehicle units in
2008, then increasing by 31.53% four years later
(Surabaya Central Bureau of Statistics Department,
2014). The escalation of vehicle numbers has
resulted in two consequences: 1) a decrease in the
average vehicle speed (from 34.31 kph in 2010 to
28.96 kph in 2014) and 2) the appearance of both
material and non-material losses, where the
material loss caused by congestion reached Rp.
2,530,654,563,00 in 2012 and non-material losses
caused some bad social and environmental
impacts.
Therefore, a strategic plan has been created by
the current government in an effort to solve the
ongoing problem by developing the transportation
system (Rismaharini, 2008). Based on information
from the Surabaya Development Infrastructure
(2015), Rismaharini has planned three strategies
with which to develop the Surabaya transportation
system (Fig. 1). Developing mass transportation
systems, particularly the monorail (MRT), is the
Surabaya city government’s initial plan. Suro
Tram and Boyo Trail are the two new concepts in
the transportation system offering to improve mass
transportation in the city.
216
Daniel, D., Laksmono, I. and Hermanto, R.
The Impact of an Operational Information System Design when Controlling the Operational Costs of an Urban Rail Transit System in Surabaya.
In Proceedings of the Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics Symposium 2018 on Special Session for Indonesian Study (JCAE 2018) - Contemporary Accounting Studies in
Indonesia, pages 216-223
ISBN: 978-989-758-339-1
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
Figure 1: The Development of Transportation in
Surabaya (2015)
In summary, the main focus of this study is
how to control the operational costs of mass public
transportation, particularly for urban rail transit
systems (Suro Tram and Boyo Rail) by
implementing operational information design.
Further research about budgeting can be conducted
in order to manage all the costs and to generate
more profits in relation to the introduction of a
new transportation system.
1.1 The Limitations of Research
There are two limitations to the findings of this
research process. These are as follows:
1) The report examining the operational costs
related to Suro Tram and Boyo Rail cannot be
obtained and analyzed due to confidentiality
reasons (according to the Surabaya Ministry of
Transportation).
2) There is a lack of previous research related to
the operational design of public transportation
in Indonesia. This would have been useful as a
supporting reference when designing a new
operational system that is more suited to
today’s needs.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Previous Research
Previous studies which usinh in this subject
derived from twelve journals, both international
and local. Decision making when setting the
selling price of transportation tickets can be
measured by assessing the operational costs
incurred during the activities (Hermanto and
Daniel, 2017). The measuring of operational costs
can be recouped through the design of an
operational information system. This system can
include suitable sub-systems, such as an
accounting information system to collect driver
transaction data, an operational engineering
subsystem to obtain procedural data, and an
operational intelligence subsystem to collect
external data to act as a reference for operational
design (Fitriani and Daniel, 2016).
It has also been shown that an operational
information system is very useful to a
transportation system, in that it can manage the
maintenance costs (Gunawan et al., 2017).
Operational costs in public services are affected by
the complexity and the predictability of the
system; as such, cost behavior must be determined
as it can affect stakeholder decisions when using
such services (Estrada et al. 2017). An operational
information system should be designed in a way
that allows it to support standard operational
procedures (Handika et al., 2017).
The measurement of the operational costs of an
urban rail transit system can be divided into three
periods. There are: (1) when the new network is
going through the application process; (2) before
the urban rail transit system is operational; and (3)
while the urban rail transit system is operational
(Shang and Zhang, 2013). The performance of an
operational public transport service can be valued
by analyzing all the supporting factors; which will
become the minimum standards (Ismiyati et al.,
2016).
The characteristics of public transport users or
passengers are strongly influenced by their travel
routes (Currie and Delbosc, 2013). The increasing
cost of public transport can be caused by the need
to repeatedly transfer between different modes of
transportation in order to reach a destination
(Kumar et al., 2013). The evolution and
development of a transportation line (i.e., a
subway) will improve the efficiency of passengers’
transportation and remove the pressure on
passengers’ movements (Zhu and Luo, 2016).
The development of a public transportation
system cannot be separated from the development
of spatial urban areas (Kołoś and Taczonowski,
2016). Finally, an operational information system
should be applied to the current transportation
system in order to maximize operational
performance, especially in the terms of the total
travelled distance, the number of passengers
carried, energy consumption, and operational
profit (Teoh et al., 2017).
The Impact of an Operational Information System Design when Controlling the Operational Costs of an Urban Rail Transit System in
Surabaya
217
2.2 Internal Control
Internal control is a process designed by a board of
directors, management and other personnel in
order to foster confidence in the achievement of
their goals (Boynton and Johnson, 2006). There
are five elements of internal control: the control
environment, risk assessment, information and
communication, control activities, and monitoring.
2.3 Cost
Systematic, comparative and analytical earning
data can be used to determine the profit target, the
departmental target for middle and operational
management, the effectiveness of the planning, the
operational performance, the strategy selection,
and the corrective action (Carter, 2009). Carter
also states that the controller role is needed to
control and to plan all costs by coordinating all
management levels.
2.4 Operational Information System
An organizational system is responsible for
transforming things such as goods or services from
input to output (Stevenson and Chuong, 2014).
This system will be used to summarize and
translate integrated operational flows (Fitriani and
Daniel, 2016). In addition, an operational
information system can describe a business activity
or event, recording it and helping to manage all
transactions (Smith, 2000).
When designing a good operational system for
a transportation system, Khisty and Lall (2006)
state that there are eight focuses that need to be
considered in order to evaluate the system’s
performance. These are as follows:
1. Cost efficiency. This focus will compare the
total operational cost (TC) and the total vehicle
revenue (TRV) based on the size of the area
(miles) or the time spent (hours). The
calculation formula is:
Operational costs
p
er vehicle revenue
:
TC / TRV
2. Worker productivity. This focus will compare
the total vehicle revenue per hour (TR) or per
miles (TRV) and the number of staff (TS), as
follows:
T
otal vehicle
r
evenue per staff
m
embe
r
:
TR / TS
3. Vehicle utilization. This focus will consider
factors such as the total vehicle revenue (per
miles or per hour) (TRV), the total number of
passengers (TP), and the number of vehicles
(TV). The calculation formula is:
Total vehicle
revenue per
vehicle
:
TR / TV
Total number of
passengers per
vehicle
:
TP / TV
4. Energy efficiency. This focus applies two
calculation components: the total energy
consumption (TEC) and total vehicle revenue
(per miles or per hour) (TRV). The calculation
formula is:
Total energy
consumption per
total vehicle
revenue
:
TEC / TR
5. Size of service utilization. This focus
considers three elements: the total revenue
every passenger (TRP), the total vehicle
revenue per miles (TRV), and the total
population of the service area (TSA). The
calculation can be formulated as follows:
Total revenue every
passenger per
vehicle revenue per
miles
:
TRP / TRV
Total revenue per
passenger per the
population of the
service area
:
TRP / TSA
6. Accessibility. This focus measures the
percentage of the service used based on the
total population of the service area (TSA) and
the total population of area covered by this
service (TSC), as follows:
The percentage of
the population in
the service area
:
TSA / TSC
JCAE Symposium 2018 Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics Symposium 2018 on Special Session for Indonesian Study
218
7. Service quality. This focus considers the total
number of on-time trips (TOT), the total
number of trips (TT), the total vehicle
revenue per miles (TRV), and total square
miles of the area served (TAS). The
calculations can be explained as follows:
Reliability of the
s
y
ste
m
: TOT / TT
Total of vehicle
revenue per miles
per total square
miles of area serve
d
:
TRV / TAS
8. Financial performance. This focus measures
the operational costs based on the total
operational revenue (TOR), total operational
costs (TC), total number of trips (TT), and
total number of passengers per miles (TP).
The calculations can be explained as follows:
Operational
r
atio
: TOR / TC
Operational cost
of each
assen
er trip
:
TC / TT
Operational cost
of each
passenger
(miles)
: TC / TP
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This current research applies a holistic single case-
study through a literature observation method.
Several components will be used to compile the
current research (Yin, 2012):
1. Research question
This research will focus on the design of an
operational information system. This will
produce output in the form of operational cost
controlling for an urban rail transit system;
specifically, Suro Tram and Boyo Rail. The
basis of the current research question is “How
can the design of an operational information
system be applied to control the operational
costs incurred by an urban rail transit system?”
2. Unit of analysis
Previous research serves as the unit of analysis
in this current study. Furthermore, the analysis
was conducted by studying the operational
costs of an urban rail transit system or light rail
transit system that have been incurred by such
transport systems in other cities across the
world.
3. The logic that links data with propositions
A transaction process system will generate
accounting information related to operational
costs such as recruitment costs, maintenance
costs, payroll systems, investment costs, utility
costs, and other costs that are linked to
operational cost control.
4. The criteria for interpretation of the findings
This current research used some theories to
design an operational system that can control
the operation of an urban rail transit system
(specifically, Suro Tram and Boyo Rail). The
theories consider accounting information
systems, transaction processing systems,
management information systems, and
operational management systems.
4 ANALYSIS
4.1 A General Overview of The
Planned Urban Rail System
Surabaya Government is planning a new
breakthrough transportation system in the form of
a fast mass-transit service. This type of system is
generally known as an urban rail transit system.
This consists of two types of public transport: Suro
Tram (the monorail product) and Boyo Rail (the
tram product).
Fig 2 shows a diagram by Array Motor
Blogspot (2014) which explained that Suro Tram
will pass the route from west to east (17.4 km) that
have 25 stops, and Boyo Rail will cross from
northern route to southern route (24km) which
have 29 stops.
This new transportation system project is still
entering the investigation phase and the project
team is in the process of constructing the
prequalification documents that will determine the
bidders. Investment in the project, which has
reached ten trillion rupiah , includes the station
construction costs, the track and construction costs,
the transport stop costs, socialization costs, design
costs, study and supervision costs, fleet costs, and
depo charges.
The Impact of an Operational Information System Design when Controlling the Operational Costs of an Urban Rail Transit System in
Surabaya
219
Figure 2: A Route Map Showing the Routes taken by
Suro Tram and Boyo Rail (2014)
Furthermore, the successful of urban rail transit
system in Surabaya will be reached when it can
fulfill the three requirements (Ristia,2009) as
follows:
1. There is an integration of supporting systems
such as feeder system and non-motorized
transport system especially for bicycle and
pedestrian path
2. There is an healthy institution of provision in
public transport with the transparently licensing
mechanism and giving priority to the high
quality of service
3. There is a well-preparation and well-socialize
stage to the public. The socialization material
must cover the reason of every action taking
and anticipation efforts by government for
every consequences facing by society relating
with the implementation
4.2 The Planned Operational Costs of
Urban Rail Transit System in
Surabaya
The operational costs of an urban rail transit
system cannot be separated from the capital costs
(which usually cover all planning and construction
costs) (Wright and Fjellstorm, 2002). These costs
depend on a multi-level separation and a special
path extension (e.g. special geological conditions
and the material costs of building and labor). There
are some factors that can affect these costs:
1. Dominant factors:
a. Costs of quality management or
organization
b. Costs of a new system or progressive
expansion of the current system.
2. Important factors:
a. Cost of land maintenance (construction and
foundation)
b. Costs of topography (error costs, insurance
costs, etc.)
c. Design costs
d. Utilization costs (water, electricity, etc.)
e. Cost of funding.
3. Moderately important factors:
a. Land costs
b. Cost of supplying the tools needing for
construction
4. Minor factors:
a. Labor costs
b. Tax and liability costs
c. Cost of supporting facility systems (air-
conditioners (AC), special access,
televisions, etc.).
Some operational costs depend on the number
of vehicles needed to provide the service. The
higher the speed of the operation, the lower the
circulation period; this will affect the number of
vehicles needed for a single-line service.
Based on a World Bank study, there are some
aspects that can be used as standard parameters to
determine the operational costs incurred by an
urban rail transit system (Hefrianto, 2008). These
can be explained as follows:
1. The average number of passengers which can
be carried by every vehicle in a day
2. The number of vehicles operating in peak hours
3. The average speed of the vehicles in a day
4. The number of vehicles in maintenance
5. The consumption of the engine in each of the
vehicles
6. The number of workers
7. The length of the route travelled
8. The service costs of the vehicles (operational
costs, depreciation costs, etc.)
9.
The total amount of income earned.
5 CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Conclusion
Based on the results of our analysis, we can
conclude that, in order to be effectively managed,
an urban rail transit system must be supported by
an integrated operational information system.
An integrated operational system has some
advantages, such as:
JCAE Symposium 2018 Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics Symposium 2018 on Special Session for Indonesian Study
220
1. It can manage the calculation of the operational
costs more accurately and effectively
2. It can measure the selling price of passenger
tickets effectively
3. It can produce reports related to the operational
system, such as operational reports, cost-of-
goods-sold reports, etc.
4. It can measure the operational performance and
service offered by the transit system
5. It can increase the effectiveness and efficiency
of resources, thereby affecting operational
performance
6. It can control the operational costs, budget
costs, and control costs.
5.2 Reccomendation
The recommendation that can be applied to control
operational costs from urban rail transit system in
Surabaya is using E-Budgeting to control the
operational cost. This can be generated by
implementing an operational information system.
Therefore, we suggest a design of Entity-
Relationship Diagram (ERD) to create a good
operational information system to be used by
Surabaya Government (fig 3). As the beginning,
this design is started by using master data relating
with information needed and stored as a database.
Then, this database will be processed by system to
generate some reports i.e.: Sales Budget, Cost of
Goods Sold, Budget Control, and Cost Control.
Therefore, the result of ERD system can be
functioned to evaluate the operational system
performance such as : cost efficiency, worker
productivity, vehicle utilization, energy efficiency,
size of service utilization, accessibility, service
quality, and control the operational costs.
The Impact of an Operational Information System Design when Controlling the Operational Costs of an Urban Rail Transit System in
Surabaya
221
JCAE Symposium 2018 Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics Symposium 2018 on Special Session for Indonesian Study
222
REFERENCES
Bungin, B.(2009).Penelitian Kualitatif : Komunikasi,
Ekonomi, Kebijakan Publik, dan Ilmu Sosial Lainnya.
Jakarta: Kencana Prenada Media Grup.
Bodnar,G.H.and Hopwood,W.S.(2012).Accounting
Information System.11
th
ed. New Jersey: Prentice
Hall.
Currie, G. and Delbosc A.(2013). Exploring
Comparative Ridership Drivers Of Bus Rapid Transit
and Light Rail Routes, Journal of Public
Transportation 16(2), 47-65.[Online].Available at:
https://www.nctr.usf.edu/wp-
content/uploads/2013/07/16.2_currie.pdf [Accessed
25 December 2017]
Fitriani,A.and Daniel,D.R.(2016). Operational
Information System E-Traffic Berbasis Automatic
Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) System Sebagai
Alat Deteksi Pelamnggaran dan Pengelolaan Denda
Lalu Lintas di Indonesia. National Symposium
Accountancy XIX Lampung
University.[Online].Available at:
http://repository.unair.ac.id/776/ [Accessed 25
December 2017]
Gelinas,U.J.and Dull, R.B.(2012), Accounting
Information Systems.9
th
ed. Mason: Thomson Higher
Education.
Hermanto,R.B.and Daniel,D.R.(2017). Rancangan
Sistem Informasi Perhitungan Harga Pokok
Transportasi Umum Berbasis Marketing Information
System Untuk Menentukan Tarif Tiket Angkutan
Umum di Kota Surabaya. 4
th
Regional Accounting
Conference. [Online].Available at:
repository.unair.ac.id/58560/ [Accessed 25
December 2017]
Ismiyati,Firdaus,M.and Arubusman,D.A.(2016).
Manajemen Pemeliharaan Bus Transjakarta Dalam
Mencapai Standar Pelayanan Minimum. Jurnal
Manajemen Transportasi dan Logistik 03(2), 185-
203.[Online].Available at: ejournal.stmt-
trisakti.ac.id/index.php/jmtranslog/article/view/92
[Accessed 25 December 2017]
Khisty,C.J.and Hall,B.K.(2006). .Dasar-Dasar
Rekayasa Transportasi.2
nd
ed.Jakarta: Erlangga.
Kołoś,A.and Taczonowski,J.(2016). The Feasibility of
Introducing Light Rail Systems in Medium Sized
Towns In Central Europe,Journal of Transport
Geography (54), 400-413.[Online].Available at:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0
966692316000193 [Accessed 25 December 2017]
Kumar,P.P.,Parida,M. and Swami, M.(2013).
Performance Evaluation of Multimodal
Transportation System. Procedia - Social and
Behavioral Sciences 104(2), 795-
804.[Online].Available at:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1
877042813045655 [Accessed 25 December 2017]
Laporte,G,et al.(2011).Planning Rapid Transit Network.
Socio-Economic Planning Sciences 45(2011), 95-
104.[Online].Available at:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0
038012111000139 [Accessed 25 December 2017]
Laudon,K.C.and Laudon,J.P.(2013).Management
Information System: Managing The Digital Firm.
Harlow: Pearson Education.
Listiyani,A.S.(2016).Surotram dan Boyorail Baru
Beroperasi. [Online].Available at:
https://nasional.tempo.co/read/532489 [Accessed 25
October 2016]
Rismaharini,T.2008.Infrastruktur Kota Surabaya, Antara
Problem dan Solusi. Seminar Nasional Aplikasi
Teknologi Prasarana Kota.[Online].Available at:
https://atpw.files.wordpress.com/2013/.../paper-
keynote-risma-ok.p... [Accessed 25 October 2016]
Shang,B.and Zhang,X.(2013). Study Of Urban Rail
Transit Operation Costs. Procedia Social and
Behavioral Sciences 96 (2013), 565-
573.[Online].Available at:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1
877042813021927 [Accessed 25 October 2017]
Widayanti,A.et. al.(2014).Permasalahan Pengembangan
Angkutan Umum di Kota Surabaya’,Jurnal
Transportasi 14(1), 53-60.
Wright,L.and Fjellstorm,K.(2003). Mass Transit Options.
GTZ:Eschborn.
Whitten,J.L.et.al.(2017). System Analysis and Design
Method Seventh Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill
Yin, R.K.(2003). Case Study Research, Thousand Oaks:
Sage Publications,Inc.
Zhuo,L.and Luo,J.(2016).The Evolution Analysis of
Ghuangzhou Subway Network by Complex Network
Theory.Procedia Engineering 137(2016), 186-
195.[Online].Available at:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1
877705816002629 [Accessed 25 October 2017]
The Impact of an Operational Information System Design when Controlling the Operational Costs of an Urban Rail Transit System in
Surabaya
223