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Most Transjakarta buses poorly maintained, fail roadworthy test
Not roadworthy: A Transportation Agency officer inspects a Transjakarta bus in the Rawa Buaya pool, West Jakarta, recently
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Not roadworthy: A Transportation Agency officer inspects a Transjakarta bus in the Rawa Buaya pool, West Jakarta, recently. Twenty Transjakarta buses were detained for failing a roadworthy test conducted by the Transportation Agency on Sunday.(JP/Seto Wardhana) (JP/Seto Wardhana)
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span class="inline inline-center">Not roadworthy: A Transportation Agency officer inspects a Transjakarta bus in the Rawa Buaya pool, West Jakarta, recently. Twenty Transjakarta buses were detained for failing a roadworthy test conducted by the Transportation Agency on Sunday.(JP/Seto Wardhana)
For Yuna, a 23-year-old administration staffer in a private company, riding Transjakarta buses is almost no better than regular buses like Metromini and Kopaja.
'I regularly take Transjakarta buses from my house in Kuningan, South Jakarta, to my office in Dukuh Atas in Central Jakarta. Most of the buses serving the route are in bad condition,' she said, referring to the Corridor VI route that runs between Ragunan in South Jakarta and Dukuh Atas.
Yuna said the doors looked unstable while the bus was in motion and the air conditioning did not work properly.
However, she added that she preferred to take Transjakarta over other buses as they had a better system and drivers. 'The buses also have their own lane, so they can beat the traffic,' she said.
However, the Jakarta Transportation Agency has revealed recently that more than 50 percent of Transjakarta buses that underwent roadworthy tests (KIR) from April to September this year did not pass the test due to poor maintenance.
Transportation Agency Motorized Vehicle Examination Center head Muslim said on Wednesday that 318 out of 565 buses that underwent the KIR test every six months did not pass.
'Most of the buses did not pass because they had damaged body parts such as holes in the frame, bad exhaustion emissions and an inadequate power braking system,' he said.
He added that others had doors that jammed, broken air conditioning or lacked handles for standing passengers.
Muslim said that the center gave one week for owners of buses that failed the test to repair them and improve onboard facilities. 'For one week, they are not allowed to operate,' he said.
According to him, the owners have three opportunities to pass the test. 'If the buses still do not pass, they are not allowed to be on the street at all until major repairs like changing the chassis or restoring the engine are carried out,' he said.
Based on the Center's data, out of 919 registered Transjakarta buses, only 519 buses had undergone the routine biannual KIR tests since February 2013.
'It means that the 400 others have not been tested. It means those buses are not in operation or are operating without a KIR,' he said.
He added that according to the Transportation Ministerial regulation, buses that had not undergone the KIR test were not allowed on the road.
Muslim said the Transportation Agency was now intensifying raids on Transjakarta buses that had not passed the KIR test but were still operating.
The Transportation Agency's Central Jakarta Office recently detained 13 Transjakarta buses during a two-hour raid.
Separately, city-owned Transjakarta bus operator PT Transportasi Jakarta president director ANS Kosasih said that according to his company's data, out of 843 buses in the contract, only 619 were currently in operation. 'This means that 224 units are in a dire condition and their KIRs have expired,' he said.
He added that out of 619 buses, an average of 468 buses operated every day. 'The other 151 buses are undergoing the KIR tests or are undergoing maintenance,' he said.
Kosasih said his company was now trying its best to increase its fleet and replace old buses. 'We estimate that around 300 to 350 new buses will start operating by the end of this year,' he said.
Last year, the city administration allocated a significant amount of funding to buy Transjakarta buses. However, the plan was halted after the officials found indications of graft in the procurement process.
