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Palembang sees sharp hike in bus passengers due to haze
Every cloud: The Karya Jaya Palembang Terminal, 12 kilometers along the Palembang-Ogan Ilir eastern highway
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Every cloud: The Karya Jaya Palembang Terminal, 12 kilometers along the Palembang-Ogan Ilir eastern highway. Palembang has recorded a 60 percent increase in bus passengers as thick smoke blanketing the city and other areas of South Sumatra has led to flight delays and cancellations. (Kompas.com/Amriza) (Kompas.com/Amriza)
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span class="caption">Every cloud: The Karya Jaya Palembang Terminal, 12 kilometers along the Palembang-Ogan Ilir eastern highway. Palembang has recorded a 60 percent increase in bus passengers as thick smoke blanketing the city and other areas of South Sumatra has led to flight delays and cancellations. (Kompas.com/Amriza)
Inter-city, inter-province (AKAP) buses connecting Palembang in South Sumatra with Jakarta and other areas of Java have seen a sharp increase in passenger numbers due to haze causing flight delays and cancellations at Sultan Mahmud Badarudin 2 Airport in Palembang.
Data from several bus agencies at Karya Jaya Palembang Terminal, 12 kilometers along the Palembang-Ogan Ilir eastern highway, shows a 60 percent increase in passengers using buses to travel from Palembang to Jakarta and other areas in Java during the last two weeks.
Representatives of the bus agencies said on Thursday that most passengers who had shifted to buses from airlines were traveling to destinations in Java, such as Jakarta and Bandung. They suspected that the passenger hike was due to smoke from wildfires in areas across Sumatra.
A manager of Lorena bus company at Karya Jaya Palembang Terminal, Cik Utin, said she was happy to see such a sharp hike in bus passengers in the city.
'To accommodate the passenger hike, our management has operated an additional two or three buses per day,' said Cik Utin as quoted by kompas.com on Thursday.
Despite such a significant increase in passengers, Cik Utin said Lorena's management had not increased bus fares. 'The ticket prices are still same. There has been no fare increase,' she said.
A manager of a bus company serving the Pekan Baru-Jakarta route via Palembang, Hendro, said seats on his three of four buses a day to Jakarta were currently up to 90 percent full, every day.
As reported earlier, the haze disaster currently affecting several areas across Indonesia, including Palembang in South Sumatra, has led to flight delays and cancellations due to limited visibility. (edn/ebf)
