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Six years on, Transjakarta services deteriorate
Transjakarta buses passengers have said they stopped using the bus rapid transit after being disappointed with the service, especially the waiting times and long queues
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ransjakarta buses passengers have said they stopped using the bus rapid transit after being disappointed with the service, especially the waiting times and long queues.
Felix recently wrote on the suaratransjakarta.org website that he used to think the Transjakarta
bus was a comfortable mode of transport.
A bad experience in the middle of last year, however, changed his mind.
“Since Monday, June 15, 2009, I stopped using it,” he said in the forum.
He said on that day, he took a Transjakarta bus from the Jelambar shelter in West Jakarta at 6:30 p.m. to get to his office close to the Harmoni shelter. He arrived three hours later.
“The waiting time was too long. The queue [to get tickets] was also long,” Felix said, adding that ever since, he takes a minibus and spends two hours on the road.
Tri Harbyansyah said he used to be a loyal Transjakarta passenger as he lived close to the Assidiqiyah shelter in West Jakarta, but the declining quality of service forced him to return to public buses.
“Recently, the service has been getting poorer. I took a bus from Sarinah at 5 p.m. and arrived home at 9 p.m.!” he wrote to Yahoo group Suaratransjakarta.
David Tjahjana, the (unelected) chairman of the busway users community, said the demand for Transjakarta services outpaced the supply.
He said he still believed Transjakarta would retain passengers who used to use public transportation and motorcycles despite the poor service because the bus was still considered better than minibuses.
“What worries me is that car-owning passengers will return to their private cars,” he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
He said this would only exacerbate traffic problems.
David said long waiting times in shelters was caused mainly by the poor commitment of the police and the Transportation Agency to clear the busway lanes of other vehicles.
Another issue contributing to the lengthy wait was the limited number of gas stations.
He said the city’s plan to buy 139 Transjakarta buses for the new corridor 9 (Pinang Ranti, East Jakarta to Pluit, North Jakarta) and corridor 10 (Cililitan, East Jakarta, to Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta), would not boost headway times unless the city added three gas stations.
“The buses will only queue and this will disrupt service,” David said.
Tubagus Haryo, a member of the Residents Coalition for Jakarta Transportation organization (Kawat Jakarta), echoed this viewed.
He urged the city to build gas stations in Kampung Rambutan in East Jakarta and Kramat Jati to fuel the buses, so the number of buses queueing at gas stations on Jl. Pemuda, Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan and Rawa Buaya would lessen.
“It would be sad if people stopped using Transjakarta because of poor service, as bus rapid transit is a good option,” he told the Post via phone.
Nugraha, a passenger on corridor 8 (Lebak Bulus-Harmoni), said he and many other passengers were angry at perceived incompetence.
“In August 2009, we had to wait 45 minutes at the Taman Anggrek shelter when seven buses in a row passed by to refuel,” he wrote at the suaratransjakarta.org.
He said when a bus finally stopped at the shelter, passengers complained and became unruly.
“I don’t understand why seven buses had to refuel at peak hours,” he said.
