Busway increases fleet, improves ticketing system<\/p>\n
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The TransJakarta Busway Management announced on Friday it had
\nadded nine new buses to its existing fleet of 56 buses to cope
\nwith large numbers of passengers during the morning and afternoon
\nrush hours.<\/p>\n
\"We started operating those nine new buses today (Friday).
\nThese buses will help us reduce the crowding on board our buses,
\nespecially during the peak hours from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 5
\np.m. to 7 p.m.,\" the management's head, Irzal Z. Djamal, said.<\/p>\n
Irzal said the nine buses were the first of 35 new buses the
\nadministration would procure this year.<\/p>\n
\"Should the number of passengers grow significantly, we will
\ndeploy more new buses,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The busway corridor from Blok M in South Jakarta to Kota in
\nWest Jakarta serves about 60,000 passengers during weekdays. That
\nfigure drops to 40,000 during weekends because many regular
\npassengers are businesspeople whose offices are located along the
\n12.9-kilometer corridor.<\/p>\n
This first busway corridor was opened on Jan. 15 last year.
\nThe administration is preparing to open two more busway corridors
\nconnecting Pulogadung in East Jakarta to Harmoni in Central
\nJakarta, and Harmoni to Kalideres in West Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The corridors -- which will reportedly cost the city a total
\nof Rp 600 billion (US$67 million) -- are scheduled to become
\noperational in October this year.<\/p>\n
Irzal said the management was exploring the possibility of
\nintroducing a distance-based ticketing system for the busway
\ncorridors. This new system would replace the current fixed fare
\nof Rp 2,500 per single trip.<\/p>\n
Under the new ticketing system, similar to one already in use
\non the city's trains, passengers would have to pay more the
\nlonger their trips.<\/p>\n
\"If we maintain the old ticketing system, we will have to
\nspend a lot of money subsidizing busway passengers,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Currently, the administration pays a subsidy of between Rp 80
\nand Rp 100 for each busway ticket sold.<\/p>\n
City Secretary Ritola Tasmaya said the administration planned
\nto move forward the construction of 15 new busway corridors to
\n2007 from the original date of 2010.<\/p>\n
Sutiyoso's second term as Jakarta governor ends in 2007.<\/p>\n
\"We have carried out a study and we estimate that we will have
\nto provide at least Rp 2.5 trillion to help build all of the
\nbusway infrastructure,\" Ritola said.<\/p>\n
The City Transportation Agency has allocated at least Rp 10
\nbillion to prepare the infrastructure, traffic management and
\ncivil engineering for the fourth to seventh busway routes.
\nAnother Rp 3.6 billion has been provided in the 2005 budget to
\ncreate a system to monitor and control the busway projects.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/busway-increases-fleet-improves-ticketing-system-1447893297",
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