Jakartans working late at night have warmly welcomed Transjakarta's 24-hour service, which they say facilitates them with cheap and safe public transportation.

Since June 1, Transjakarta has provided a 24-hour service to passengers traveling along three of its corridors: Corridor I, the Blok M'Kota route; Corridor III, the Kalideres'Pasar Baru route; and Corridor IX, the Pinang Ranti'Pluit route.

A bus serving one of the most crowded routes during rush hour, Blok M'Kota, still carried many passengers on its night shift ' from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. ' on Tuesday night. The Blok M'Kota route passes several of the city's business centers on Jl. Sudirman in South Jakarta, and Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta.

Although the streets were deserted that evening, dozens of passengers were still queuing for a bus at the Dukuh Atas 1 bus stop in Central Jakarta. Dukuh Atas 1 is one of the most jam-packed Transjakarta bus stops during rush hours.

Around 20 passengers were on board the bus. Some passengers felt safe enough to doze while others were busy with their cellular phones. One passenger, Damas Wicaksana, a worker at a government office near the Sarinah building on Jl. MH Thamrin, was reading a magazine to stay awake.

Damas said that he often worked late nights and was forced to take a taxi as he did not own a private vehicle. He lives in Pondok Gede, Bekasi, West Java. He changed from taking a taxi to Transjakarta as soon as the 24-hour service was implemented.

'I sometimes get off work at 11 p.m. or midnight. You can imagine how expensive it would be if I took a taxi from Sarinah to my house in Bekasi every day,' Damas said.

Damas added that he would get on at the Sarinah bus stop and get off at the Benhil stop to catch a bus at Semanggi for Pinang Ranti, East Jakarta. 'From Pinang Ranti, I take a taxi. I can save up to Rp 40,000 [US$ 3.43] a day with this route,' he said.

Another passenger, Amanda Klara, who works for an information technology company on Jl. Gatot Subroto, South Jakarta, said she was also thankful that the long-awaited 24-hour service had finally been implemented.

'I usually work until 11 p.m. and I don't trust any transportation service at that hour other than a taxi,' the 23-year-old said. 'Now that the Pinang Ranti'Pluit route operates 24 hours I take a Transjakarta bus instead of a taxi because it's much cheaper but still as safe as a taxi.'

Amanda said she lived in a boarding house in Cawang, East Jakarta. She would board a bus at Semanggi and get off at PGC bus stop in East Jakarta and take an ojek, a motorcycle taxi, to the boarding house.

'I know the ojek driver so I can trust him,' she said.

Amanda felt all corridors should provide a 24-hour service to facilitate Jakartans working late nights.

Jakarta Transportation Agency head Muhammad Akbar previously said that Transjakarta would gradually expand the 24-hour service to the remaining nine corridors and increase the number of buses to 80.

Currently, 18 buses operate on the night services ' six for each route ' and two buses are on standby as backup. (dwa)

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