Busway may remove Bianglala buses
Busway may remove Bianglala buses
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post , Jakarta
Bus operator Bianglala may lose its license to run busses that
ply the same route as the planned busway route -- from Blok M in
South Jakarta to Kota in West Jakarta -- if it rejects the city
administration's proposals, head of the City Transportation
Agency Rustam Effendy said on Monday.
"If it doesn't want to be regulated, this means it doesn't
want to cooperate. If it doesn't want to cooperate, well, its
permit will be revoked," Rustam said after attending the City
Council plenary session on transportation bylaws.
The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), busway's formal title, will start
operating in December. The administration gave three choices to
bus operators who run services along the planned route. They can
either join a consortium with busway, operate as feeders or stay
clear of the routes in question all altogether, Rustam said.
Feeders will operate to take passengers to certain points
along the busway route, including Jl. Jend. Sudirman, Jl. M.H.
Thamrin, Jl. Gajah Mada and Jl. Hayam Wuruk. However, busses will
be prohibited from following a parallel route to busway's.
According to Rustam, currently four operators -- PPD, Steady
Safe, Pahala Kencana and Bianglala -- provide services from Blok
M to Kota. Only Bianglala, with about 35 units, refuses to
comply.
Rustam said that "the operation of Busway will not be
postponed" and that Bianglala had been notified last December of
the restrictions.
The managers of Bianglala could not be reached for comment.
Busway is one of the administration's attempts to solve
traffic problems in the capital. However, the implementation of
the Rp 117 billion (US$13.76 million) plan has already been
delayed several times.
A total of 165 busses ply the soon-to-be busway route. The
administration will only deploy 55 busses in the first stage of
the project but more busses are promised by the end of 2004,
putting the total at 140 busses.
Busway project manager Irzal Djamal confirmed on Monday that
the busses will run on diesel fuel and meet the international
Euro 2 standard for environmentally friendly vehicles.