Busway fully operational, but technical flaws linger<\/p>\n
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The busway's first day of full operation saw the ticketing system
\nas the major problem, confusing both passengers and on-duty
\nbusway ticket officers.<\/p>\n
Starting on Sunday, Jakartans had to pay Rp 2,500 (30 U.S.
\ncents) for a single trip, marking the end of a two-week free
\ntrial period. However, many passengers were still unable to buy
\ntickets for feeder buses at certain busway shelters.<\/p>\n
\"We can't sell the feeder buses tickets because they haven't
\nbeen stamped with specific dates yet,\" a ticket officer at a
\nshelter on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta, told The
\nJakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The same situation was experienced at Bank Indonesia and the
\nJakarta Police Headquarters shelters located on Jl. M.H. Thamrin
\nand Jl. Jend. Sudirman respectively.<\/p>\n
But for Rangga, 30, a resident of Jl. Bekasi Timur, East
\nJakarta, buying a feeder bus ticket was not a problem. He bought
\nthe ticket at the Al-Azhar shelter in South Jakarta but the
\nbusway employee on duty gave him the two-part ticket for the
\nfeeder bus that travels between Blok M and Bekasi. Instead of a
\nstamped date, the officer wrote the date on the ticket.<\/p>\n
\"It's confusing. The feeder bus' conductor looked confused
\nwhen I gave him the ticket. He spoke to the other conductors
\nbefore he finally took the ticket,\" he said.<\/p>\n
One of the feeder bus tickets must be given to the bus
\nconductor while the other section of the ticket must be exchanged
\nfor a single busway ticket at the shelters.<\/p>\n
TransJakarta Busway Management head Irzal Z. Djamal said that
\nthe management decided not to sell the feeder bus tickets on
\nboard feeder buses as had originally been planned, for fear that
\nfeeder bus crew would pocket the money from selling tickets by
\nthrowing away the ticket stubs.<\/p>\n
\"They could claim that they had sold all tickets by showing
\nthe stubs while in fact they had thrown away the rest,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Would-be passengers can buy both the busway and feeder bus
\ntickets at busway shelters along the 12.9-kilometer corridor
\nstretching from Blok M in South Jakarta, to Kota in West Jakarta.
\nThey can also buy the tickets at ticket counters at seven major
\nbus terminals: Kalideres, Pulogadung, Tanjung Priok, Blok M,
\nLebak Bulus, Tangerang and Bekasi.<\/p>\n
The two-part tickets are offered at Rp 2,800 for inner Jakarta
\nand Rp 3,900 for outer Jakarta, the price of which includes the
\nticket for the busway buses.<\/p>\n
The first day of full operation also saw several ticket
\nmachines for the turnstile out of service, forcing officers to
\ncollect the tickets from passengers manually.<\/p>\n
Despite all the flaws, Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso still praised
\nthe project, saying it was natural to have hitches on the first
\nday.<\/p>\n
\"We will evaluate all the weaknesses of the project so that we
\ncan improve the service when launching other routes,\" said the
\ngovernor, who also paid for a ticket and jumped onto the bus with
\nhis entourage on his way to Al-Azhar mosque.<\/p>\n
The city administration plans to set up 14 busway corridors
\nacross the capital; the next on the list being the Pulogadung-
\nHotel Indonesia traffic circle corridor.<\/p>\n
Sutiyoso also apologized for an accident in which a passenger
\nnamed Thomas, 40, broke his leg on Friday evening when his leg
\ngot trapped in the narrow gap between the bus and the shelter at
\nDukuh Atas, Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"The administration will pay for all the medical expenses,\" he
\npromised.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/busway-fully-operational-but-technical-flaws-linger-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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