The Jakarta Transportation Cooperative'€™s (Kopaja) traditional green-and-white livery transformed into blue-and-white as the city administration launched a new fleet on Tuesday.

PT Transjakarta president director Antonius Kosasih said the new image marked the integration with the Jakarta-owned Transjakarta service. There were 320 buses ready to operate at the launch in Parkir Timur Senayan on Tuesday.

He explained that the buses would begin operating this week serving routes outside the 12 Transjakarta corridors throughout the city. All the new buses are upgraded models of the old Kopaja buses as they now meet city standards.

The new buses, equipped with air conditioning, will charge a fare of Rp 3,500 (25 US cents).
Passengers may not board or alight from the Kopaja-Transjakarta busses anywhere they like as the bus will only stop at designated bus stops outside the Transjakarta bus stops.

"We will serve residential routes. We will also build bus stops in several locations," he said as quoted by kompas.com without giving further details on the routes.

Antonius added that unlike regular Kopaja buses, Transjakarta would pay Kopaja as the operator of the buses, Rp 10,350 per kilometer.

This will allow the drivers to receive regular salaries and relieve them of the need to collect as many passengers as possible to achieve a minimum income.

The revamp of Kopaja is part of the Jakarta administration's efforts to improve its public transportation service.

Commuters and experts have urged the city administration to bring the notorious Metro Mini under Transjakarta's wing to help improve its service and buses following several fatal crashes in recent weeks. (rin)

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