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Transjakarta bus traveled, in its own dedicated lane, unhindered along Jl. Mampang Prapatan in South Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon while private cars inched along the neighboring lanes.

Although the road was a bit bumpy and the vehicle had seen better days, the bus serving Corridor VI from Ragunan in South Jakarta to Dukuh Atas II in Central Jakarta only stopped a few times at U-turns, traffic lights and, of course, bus shelters.    

The 24-year-old onboard officer, Trays Irianto, said over the past fortnight he had seen a marked improvement in the bus'€™ journeys.

'€œOver the past two weeks, I have only seen a few motorcyclists trespass into our lane and that was during the peak hours,'€ he said.

Trays, who has worked for Transjakarta since 2007, said the sight of policemen ticketing bus lane trespassers was not an uncommon sight.

'€œI hope this is a sign of things to come,'€ he said, adding that he felt sorry for passengers who had to stand up on the bus for long periods of time due to congestion.

Thanks to a recent announcement regarding heavy penalties for motorists and motorcyclists that use the dedicated Transjakarta lanes, many of the lanes are now free from trespassers.

Earlier this month, the city administration, in collaboration with the police and the court, announced its plan to impose a fine of Rp 1 million (US$86) on car drivers and Rp 500,000 on motorcyclists caught using the busway lanes.

Up until now, the maximum fine the court would dole out was Rp 70,000 per case.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Adj. Comr. Rikwanto said although the fines had not yet been implemented, the number of motorists using the Transjakarta busway lanes had decreased by 74.4 percent.

Rikwanto said the city administration and the police were waiting on approval from the court.

'€œThe city has sent a letter regarding to the implementation of the fines but the court has not responded.'€

Transjakarta Management Body (BLU) head Pargaulan Butar Butar said the plan'€™s announcement had increased the number of passengers by 7 percent from an average of 340,000 people to 362,000 daily in the last two weeks. The average number of passengers had declined 25 percent to 300,000 passengers from 400,000 per day in 2012.

A lack of confidence in the Transjakarta management and external factors such as the limited amount of buses had contributed to the decline in passengers.

A Transjakarta passenger, 21-year-old college student Tika Khairunnisa, said some buses were in dire need of refurbishment, citing missing handrails and leaking roofs.

As many as 23 buses failed the road-worthiness test in October.

Tika, who usually takes the Transjakarta bus from her house in Ragunan to her campus in Kuningan, South Jakarta, said more buses were needed. Currently, there are only 480 buses plying the city'€™s 12 corridors.

'€œI don'€™t know how many times I have had to take taxis after waiting for hours for a bus that did not arrive,'€ she said.

Pargaulan said BLU were expecting delivery of as many as 410 buses in December, which would '€” hopefully '€” be operational in January next year.