Bus routes changed to adjust to busway
Bus routes changed to adjust to busway
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The Jakarta Transportation Agency has decided to change 11
regular and air-conditioned bus routes in order to harmonize them
with the Blok M-Kota busway corridor.
Agency head Rustam Effendy Sidabutar told reporters at City
Hall on Monday that transportation companies had also requested
the route changes due to a major drop in the number of passengers
following the launch of the city's first busway corridor in
January 2004.
"The changes were made as the bus operators whose routes run
parallel to the busway have complained of a sharp decline in
passengers due to the operation of the busway," Rustam said.
The changes will take effect on Wednesday morning.
No figures are available on how severely regular bus services
have been hit since the opening of the busway.
However, most passengers traveling between Blok M and Kota now
use the busway.
The number of passengers using the busway has risen to an
average of 45,000 people daily from only 28,000 during in mid-
January last year.
Rustam said that besides changing the routes of regular and
air-conditioned buses, his agency was also shortening a number of
bus routes in response to requests made by bus operators.
"Some bus operators have asked for shorter routes as they are
experiencing difficulties with the longer routes due to worsening
traffic congestion in the capital," he said.
He said it now took three hours for a bus to traverse the
Bekasi to Kalideres route, three times longer than five years
ago.
With the introduction of the shorter routes, he said, the
agency would no longer tolerate bus crews stopping in mid-route
and turning around to increase their passenger load.
It has long been common for bus crews to dump passengers
before reaching the end of the route in order to avoid heavily
congested areas or to increase their passenger loads. This is
because most bus crews are paid a percentage of their daily
takings.
"We will also ensure that air-conditioned buses stop only at
designated bus shelters to shorten the intervals between buses so
that passengers don't have to wait too long," Rustam added.
New bus routes
Name/number of Bus Old route New
route
P125 Hiba Utama (11 buses) Tanjung Priok-Blok M Tanjung Priok-Pasar Baru
PPD Regular 10 (12 buses) Blok M-Senen Lebak Bulus-Manggarai
SteadySafe 939 (6 buses) Blok M-Grogol Blok M-Veteran
PPD PAC 10 (24 buses) Kampung Rambutan-Kota Kampung Rambutan-Senayan
PPD PAC 15 (10 buses) Depok-Kota Depok-Karet
PPD PAC 17 (18 buses) Bekasi-Kota Bekasi-Velbak
SteadySafe PAC22 (9 buses) Lebak Bulus-Senen Lebak Bulus-Tebet Rail Station
Mayasari P51 (10 buses) Bekasi-Kota Bekasi-Velbak
SteadySafe PAC58 (4 buses) Grogol-Ciledug Kampung Melayu-Tangerang
Mayasari P18B (8 buses) Pasar Baru-Ciputat Ciputat-Karet
PPD P42 (13 buses) Blok M-Senen Lebak Bulus-Manggarai
Source: City Transportation Agency