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Transjakarta could lose yet more passengers
The number of passengers leaving the Transjakarta bus rapid transit may continue to rise, with the city administration yet to improve its declining services
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T
he number of passengers leaving the Transjakarta bus rapid transit may continue to rise, with the city administration yet to improve its declining services.
Wahyuni Sari, who used to drive to work in Kuningan, South Jakarta, said she started to use Transjakarta buses in April as she could not stand the daily traffic congestion.
'On the bus, it is common to see water dripping from the roof, while the air conditioning doesn't work and the back door cannot be closed properly,' she said recently. 'If the services remain the same, I will drive to the office again.'
Heru said some buses were not well-maintained on his daily commute from Grogol in West Jakarta to Semanggi in Central Jakarta.
'The floor of the Semanggi Transjakarta crossing bridge is also not maintained. It's been months now and the bolts of the floor haven't been tightened,' he said.
University of Indonesia transportation expert Tri Tjahjono said Transjakarta's poor services could be seen through poor infrastructure and the unpredictable travel times of buses.
'Transjakarta crossing bridges, stops and lanes are poorly maintained, with lanes illegally occupied by other vehicles,' he said.
The administration is aiming at procuring 1,000 new buses this year to improve services.
But Tri said procurement should be carried out before the administration's existing contracts with operators expired, 'so by the time the contracts are finished, the new buses are ready to operate'.
Transjakarta management body (BLU) chief Muhammad Akbar said maintenance of the buses was the responsibility of the bus operators. 'BLU pays some money to the operators for every kilometer their bus travels. The fee includes operational and maintenance costs,' he said, adding the Transportation Agency, the Public Works Agency and the Parks and Cemetery Agency shared the responsibility of maintaining
infrastructure.
He also said unpredictable travel times were caused by the illegal use of Transjakarta's exclusive lanes by other vehicles, and it was the Jakarta Police's duty to keep them
exclusive. ' JP/hrl
