Busway going nowhere with only four months left
Busway going nowhere with only four months left
Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
With less than four months to go, it appears little preparation
has been done for the construction of city administration's plan
to build a busway between Blok M in South Jakarta and Kota in
West Jakarta.
The Rp 54 billion (US$6.13 million) busway is expected to
start operation by the end of this year. The completion of the
busway, devised by Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, was
initially set for October but has been postponed to December.
Despite the apparent lack of preparation, City Transportation
Agency head Rustam Effendy is confident the busway will be
operational by the end of this year.
"I am sure that the construction will be finished in time so
that residents will be able to use the new public transportation
system by the end of this year," he told reporters on Tuesday.
"We are still preparing detailed plans for the bus stops.
Designing is quick but the administrative process takes some
time. We will start the tender process soon."
The bus stops will be platforms that are at the same level as
bus floors, thus making it easier and faster for passengers to
embark and disembark.
Only passengers with tickets will be allowed to enter buses so
there will be no transactions between passengers and drivers,
reducing the risk of financial losses.
Busway vehicles will have doors on the right side instead of
the left because the buses will use the right fast lane.
Separately contacted, the agency's head of the traffic
division, Pristono, told The Jakarta Post that buses would only
be able to stop at designated bus stops because of the special
design of bus stops.
"This way, passengers will not be able to ask drivers to stop
just anywhere. They must discipline themselves," he said.
"The size of each bus stop will be different from stop to the
next in such a way as to accommodate the different capacities
related to passengers' demand."
Pristono said the busway would have 20 bus stops and 60 85-
seater buses with a frequency of one and half to five minutes.
Rustam said it had not yet been decided from where the buses
would be procured, but the agency had had many offers.
"This is a specific kind of bus so we must be sure about its
quality. We want the buses to last for a long time," he said.
Rustam, however, said he preferred buses made by Japanese Hino
or German Mercedes-Benz.
There is also a plan to create a city-owned company to operate
the first busway route so that the system can be evaluated before
other routes are offered to private companies.
The second route being studied is the Hotel Indonesia traffic
circle in Central Jakarta to Rawamangun, East Jakarta, route.
The deputy chairman of City Council's Commission D on
development affairs, Ali Imran Husein, has criticized the delay
in construction of the busway.
"The 2002 city budget was approved earlier this year and there
was enough time to start the project. The agency first planned
the project last year, so there is no reason why it won't be
started until late this year," he told the Post.
"City councillors have not even received a detailed plan of
the project even though the proposed operational time is
approaching."
Ali also questioned the possibility of cutting down trees
along the busway, saying it would interfere with the City Parks
Agency's budget.
"The parks agency budget covers maintaining the trees, but the
project requires them to be cut down. It is such a waste of
money. Why don't both agencies coordinate their plans?"
Meanwhile, the head of the City Parks Agency, Mauritz
Napitupulu, said his agency had yet to receive a detailed plan
for the construction from the transportation agency, especially
concerning the cutting down of trees along the bus route.
"I do not know how many trees need to be removed. We can
uproot the trees, especially the young ones, instead of cutting
them down."