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New plans needed to earn back public trust in Transjakarta buses
Waiting in vain: Bus users wait for Transjakarta buses at a bus stop in Grogol, West Jakarta, in May 2013
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Waiting in vain: Bus users wait for Transjakarta buses at a bus stop in Grogol, West Jakarta, in May 2013. The buses often arrive late as many motorists use the dedicated lane to avoid traffic congestion. (JP/P.J. Leo) (JP/P.J. Leo)
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span class="inline inline-none">Waiting in vain: Bus users wait for Transjakarta buses at a bus stop in Grogol, West Jakarta, in May 2013. The buses often arrive late as many motorists use the dedicated lane to avoid traffic congestion. (JP/P.J. Leo)
With worsening traffic congestion, the capital is in dire need of comfortable and reliable public transportation, a need that Transjakarta buses have yet to fulfill.
The public trust in the buses has also faded, reflected by a sharp decline in the number of passengers, which has fallen 25 percent to only 300,000 passengers from 400,000 per day in 2012.
The poor performance of the Transjakarta Management Body (BLU) has been blamed for the declining quality in service. Darmaningtyas, a transportation expert from the Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI), however, has opposing views.
'The main problem in the operation of Transjakarta buses are external, such as unsterile Transjakarta bus lanes, unavailability of gas-based fuel and a limited amount of buses,' he told The Jakarta Post.
He argued that it was hard to assess the performance of the BLU because all those external problems had made the operation of Transjakarta buses ineffective on the field.
Thus, Darmaningtyas welcomed Jakarta's commitment to apply Rp 500,000 and Rp 1 million fines for motorcycles and cars trespassing Transjakarta bus lanes, as stipulated by the 2009 Traffic Law.
'Passenger numbers have declined because of the long waits. Motorcycles and cars take up lanes, therefore Transjakarta buses can't effectively use them to escape traffic congestion,' he emphasized.
Transjakarta currently operates 669 buses in 12 corridors. To improve services, the Jakarta administration and the City Council have planned to transform the BLU into a city-owned enterprise (BUMD).
Responding to that plan, Darmaningtyas said bus operations would improve because the bureaucratic process would be much shorter if the BLU became a BUMD. However, he said that if the administration and the council were serious about the plan, the enterprise should focus on public services and not be burdened by revenue targets.
Despite widespread criticism, the BLU has claimed that improving services was still the institution's main priority.
Sri Ulina, the institution's spokeswoman, revealed that next year, there would be 228 new articulated buses and 260 single buses.
'The procurement process has finished and we're just waiting for the buses to be delivered by the end of this year or very early next year,' she said.
In addition to the procurement of new buses, Transjakarta buses would also operate 24 hours a day starting early 2014, she continued. There would be 88 buses ready to transport passengers from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. in all 12 corridors, she said.
'We will also recondition old buses so that they won't compromise the comfort and safety of passengers. The new buses would replace 30 percent of buses that will go out of the system due to expired contracts with their operators,' Sri informed.
Out of the 669 buses in operation today, only around 40 percent of them were owned by the city administration, while the rest were owned by private operators, she added.
According to its official website, Transjakarta buses operate along a total route length of 184.31 kilometers, claiming to be the longest Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in the world.
