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.