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ransjakarta passengers must switch to e-ticketing as city-owned company PT Transjakarta has begun the gradual scrapping of its manual ticketing system.

Transjakarta spokeswoman Sri Ulina Pinem said that the transition began at the PGC 2 shelter at Pusat Grosir Cililitan (PGC) shopping center in East Jakarta.

Kampung Rambutan shelter, also in East Jakarta, will scrap paper tickets as of Monday, April 7, followed by Pluit (North Jakarta) and Pinangranti on April 14; and Kalideres on April 21.

'€œWe target to have e-ticketing throughout all corridors this year,'€ Sri told The Jakarta Post by phone over the weekend.

However, she said, the e-ticketing could not be applied in Corridor 4 plying Pulogadung-Dukuh Atas 2 and Corridor 6 plying Ragunan-Dukuh Atas 2, pending a legal battle between Bank DKI, which was appointed by Transjakarta to manage the procurement of the e-ticketing system, and PT Megah Prima Mandiri, which provided the e-ticketing system. The two company filed charges against each other last year.

The dissemination of information on the transition to e-ticketing in PGC 2 shelter began in March with written announcement placed inside the shelter. However, when manual ticketing was eventually scrapped, passengers were unable to hide their frustration at having to buy electronic tickets, priced at Rp 20,000 (US$1.70) and Rp 50,000 per card. A single trip only costs Rp 3,500.

'€œI don'€™t regularly use the Transjakarta bus, so spending Rp 20,000 to buy an e-ticket is too much for me. I wish the single trip option was still available,'€ Indah Yanti, a resident of Cempaka Putih in Central Jakarta, told the Post.

Instead of buying the e-ticket, Indah said she and her four friends chose to walk to another shelter to buy a single ticket. Yunita, another passenger, complained about the complexity of the top-up e-ticket, saying that she was not well informed.

'€œI am afraid I will have to spend extra-money to top up my card,'€ she said.

As many as six banks have cooperated with Transjakarta since January 2013. Their smartcards can be used as the e-ticket. They are the JakCard from Bank DKI; the E-Money from Bank Mandiri; the Flazz from Bank BCA, Bank BNI and Bank Mega; and Brizzi from Bank BRI.

However, these banks do not offer a standard top-up system. The JakCard, for example, can be topped up with cash at a few of the shelters but some of the other banks require the holders to have an account with the banks to use the top up facilities. Some of the cards only allow the holders to top up the cards in certain merchants.

'€œIn the future, top up facilities will be available in every shelter. All banks are currently working on it,'€ Sri said.

She admitted that many passengers complained during the first few days of the transition to e-ticketing in the PGC 2 shelter. But, a few days later, daily sales hit 4,000 tickets.

'€œThe manual single trip ticket will not be available anymore. The electronic tickets can be used for multi-trips and has no expiry date. Passengers can use the card anytime as long as it is not damaged and still contains some credit,'€ she said.

The e-ticketing system for Transjakarta has been available, except in Corridor 4 and 6, since January 2013, but the poor familiarization effort has stopped passengers from using the e-tickets.

Many passengers still queue to buy paper tickets from the counter, which should be handed out to a Transjakarta officer who uses his or her electronic ticket card to open the gate for passengers.

Transjakarta is currently under the spotlight due to a number of new '€” but damaged '€” buses. The old buses are not faring too well either: On Tuesday, a Transjakarta bus burst into flames on Jl. Sultan Agung near Rumput Market in South Jakarta.

The Attorney General'€™s Office has apprehended two officials from the Transportation Agency for their alleged involvement in graft concerning the procurement of the '€œnew'€ buses. (ask)