City to scrap 200 buses as part of new busway<\/p>\n
Damar Harsanto, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The city's second busway corridor from Kalideres in West Jakarta
\nto Pulogadung in East Jakarta will result in the decommissioning
\nof around 200 buses operating on routes that overlap with the 33-
\nkilometer express corridor.<\/p>\n
Jakarta Transportation Agency head Rustam Effendy Sidabutar
\ntold reporters at City Hall on Wednesday that the 200 buses were
\nowned by four bus operators -- Steady Safe, Mayasari Bhakti,
\nArief Rahman Hakim (ARH) and state-run bus operator PPD.<\/p>\n
\"We have invited the four bus operators to take part in the
\nbusway project by combining them in a new consortium. The
\nconsortium will operate the buses along the new busway,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The city's maiden busway project, which was launched on Jan.
\n15, involved the decommissioning of 149 buses plying seven routes
\nthat overlapped with the 12.9-kilometer busway corridor
\nstretching from Blok M in South Jakarta to Kota in West Jakarta.
\nThe administration also directly appointed the companies to
\nmanage the day-to-day operations of the busway in order to stave
\noff resistance from the companies that owned the buses in
\nquestion.<\/p>\n
Despite the inauguration of the first busway route, many buses
\nserving routes overlapping with the Blok M-Kota route continue to
\noperate. Apparently oblivious to the reality witnessed by
\nJakartans every day, the transportation agency blatantly denied
\nthe report.<\/p>\n
Rustam said the consortium -- comprising four bus operators
\naffected by the second busway corridor -- would be a separate
\nentity from the existing PT Jakarta Express Trans (JET) that
\nmanages the operation of the Blok M-Kota busway corridor.<\/p>\n
He added that the consortium membership would also be open to
\nother companies, including foreign firms, as it needed a massive
\ninjection of fresh money to procure the planned fleet of 187
\nbuses that will serve the route.<\/p>\n
The new busway corridor will be divided into two sections:
\nfrom Kalideres bus terminal to the National Monument (Monas) in
\nCentral Jakarta and from Monas to Pulogadung bus terminal.<\/p>\n
The construction of the physical infrastructure for the new
\ncorridor will start in June with the estimated cost being Rp 600
\nbillion (US$64.8 million).<\/p>\n
This figure does not include the cost of the new buses, which
\nare expected to cost around Rp 1 billion each -- more expensive
\nthan the first busway buses, which were Rp 830 million each.<\/p>\n
It is planned that Jakarta will have a total of 14 busway
\ncorridors in the future to help ease the chronic traffic
\ncongestion in most parts of the city and encourage private
\nmotorists to switch to public transportation.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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