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