Busway chief defends ticketing system

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta

The City Transportation Agency and TransJakarta Busway Management brushed aside on Tuesday an allegation that the busway's ticketing system was prone to corruption.

Head of the agency's traffic infrastructure division Udar Pristono, claimed the busway had adopted an online ticketing system. "We have a computerized ticketing system that connects all busway shelters with the agency's data center."

Pristono said the number of passengers that passed through busway turnstiles was automatically recorded when they inserted their tickets.

Thus, the data center calculates the number of tickets sold each day and the income from ticket sales, he asserted.

Farida Bau, head of the ticketing division of the TransJakarta Busway Management, said that no discrepancy was found between sold tickets and income reported since Jan. 15, the first day that the busway served the route from Blok M, South Jakarta, to Kota, West Jakarta.

She added that officials of the management, accompanied by the police, would collect the ticket money from each busway shelter three times a day.

As of today, tickets must be purchased from booths located at busway shelters or terminals, as ticket vending machines are not yet operational.

Last week, transportation experts grouped under the Sustainable Transport Action Network for the Asia Pacific Region (Sustrans) told the busway management to improve the ticketing system, arguing that the manual system would be prone to corruption as it would be difficult to oversee those tasked to collect the money.

Those experts also said the busway system was not integrated with other transportation modes in the city.

"The lack of feeder services contributed to the failure to attract car owners to switch to the busway," said Bambang Sustantono of the Indonesian Public Transportation Society.

The 56 available busway buses serve between 50,000 and 55,000 passengers a day, with tickets priced at Rp 2,500 for a one-way trip.

The busway has recently come under public scrutiny as the Corruption Eradication Commission cited on Tuesday possible markups in the procurement of the buses by the administration.

Governor Sutiyoso said on Tuesday that the City Audit Agency would seek clarification from the commission. "They will meet in the next few days," he said.