Letters: Get it sorted out, Transjakarta!

Sat, 06/20/2009 12:12 PM  |  Reader's Forum

This is a comment on an article titled "Yes, we don't provide good public transit," (The Jakarta Post, June 17).

Basically, they either need to sort out the busway pronto or else forget the whole thing. At present, it is utterly pathetic in pretty much every respect other than the air-conditioning.

There are still more Metro minis and kopajas (medium-size buses) roaming around and the logic of having an entire lane of most major roads in a severely congested city solely for the use of one kind of bus, which is infrequent and stops altogether at 10 p.m., is highly questionable. Does life itself stop at 10 p.m.?

The busway is generally still the slowest way of getting from one place to another, and thus cannot be considered a success whatsoever. There is little information available; the ridiculous fare means that there are huge queues whilst people search for a Rp 500 coin or are given change from a 5,000 note; and some mysterious buses known as "express" don't even stop at Harmoni.

It is usually after Harmoni has been bypassed that busway staff decide to let passengers know they are on an "express". Having Pulo Gadung as a major stop is a big mistake, as anyone who has been there will tell you is it utter mayhem and buses end up queuing for 10 or 20 minutes before bumping along pot-hole-ridden bus lanes.

The same goes for Blok M, which is an utter maze. By the time you've found your way into the market, found the busway counter, queued up, found your way up onto the platform, queued up again, got on the bus, waited for it to slowly creep out onto the road, you could have walked or taken a bajaj to where you wanted to be. Needless to say, tourists would be well-advised to completely avoid the busway, as it is currently a useless and confusing operation of little or no merit.

For anyone in support of such a shabbily run operation, just go along to Senen and have a look at the continual chaos, as people queue up the narrow, awkward steps waiting and waiting for a bus to finally arrive. It's not uncommon to have a queue of 300 or more, which is unacceptable.

Another major flaw across the entire network is that it takes ages to actually get down onto the busway platform - far quicker and cheaper to take a different bus. The platforms are also dangerous, with huge gaps in the panels and shoddily assembled structures. It should be regarded by those in charge of it as a total embarrassment and waste of time.

Get it sorted out, Transjakarta, or give the cars back their much-needed lane!

Bobby Johnson
Jakarta

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