KNKT Head Soerjanto Tjahjono said the committee’s investigators had been engaged in an intensive dialogue with Transjakarta management to determine the root cause of the frequent bus accidents and to prevent similar accidents from happening in the future.

“We’re thoroughly investigating all of the [Transjakarta bus] accidents and we will publish our findings on Dec. 21,” Soerjanto told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

In the latest example of the growing list of accidents, three accidents involving three Transjakarta buses occurred last Monday on different routes across Jakarta.

The first accident occurred at 4.30 a.m. on Jl. Pramuka, Central Jakarta. An empty Transjakarta bus hit a road barrier after swerving to avoid a cement truck that suddenly changed lanes.

A few hours later on Jl. HOS Cokroaminoto in Tangerang, Banten, another empty Transjakarta bus rolled down the street and crashed into a concrete wall after its driver forgot to engage the parking brake when he left the vehicle to go to the toilet.

No injuries were reported in either incident.

However, another accident occurred later that day at around 10 p.m. in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, when a Transjakarta bus knocked down and killed a pedestrian crossing the road.

Jakarta Police traffic unit law enforcement head Adj. Sr. Comr. Argo Wiyono said rain and a lack of lighting on the street had limited the driver’s view of the pedestrian. He added that the police had questioned four witnesses but had yet to name a suspect.

Soerjanto of the KNKT said the committee had decided to step in and conduct a thorough investigation into the Transjakarta management because the number of bus crashes was “very significant” and had already “exceeded the committee’s tolerance limit.”

Transjakarta president director Mochammad Yana Aditya said there were at least 502 accidents involving the company’s buses from January to October this year. He added that 88 percent of those accidents were single-vehicle collisions, while 12 percent involved other vehicles.

Transportation expert from Tarumanegara University Leksmono Suryo Putranto said the KNKT needed to check every aspect of Transjakarta’s operations, including its management, the condition of its buses and the recruitment process of its drivers, to prevent further accidents.

“These rampant crashes could be caused by many factors, from major management issues to small technicalities,” Leksmono said. “The problem might be very complex.”

As an example, he pointed to a fatal accident involving two Transjakarta buses last October, which he said highlighted a major problem in the drivers’ recruitment process and the lack of monitoring of the medical history of the drivers.

On Oct. 25, a Transjakarta bus arriving at Cawang Ciliwung Transjakarta bus stop on Jl. MT Haryono in East Jakarta crashed into the back of another bus that was in the process of dropping off passengers at the stop.

The driver of the arriving bus, identified only as J, and a passenger died at the scene, while 37 other passengers suffered a range of injuries.

A police investigation later revealed that J, who had a history of epilepsy, might have suffered a seizure at the wheel before the crash, causing him to fail to hit the brakes before the crash.