Busway operators to handle feeder lines

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The Jakarta administration has said it will require the operators of the new busway corridors to set up and operate feeder routes.

"We want the new busway operators not only to take care of the lucrative business of the busway, but also to handle less lucrative lines like the feeder buses for the busway," City Secretary Ritola Tasmaya told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The lack of a functioning feeder system has plagued the first busway corridor, which stretches from Blok M in South Jakarta to Kota in West Jakarta. Observers believe the inability to set up a working feeder system lies in the appointment of separate managements for the busway trunk line and its feeder system.

Ticket sales for feeder buses plunged sharply to only 234 tickets sold in December from 1,558 during the first month of the busway's operation last year.

Passengers have complained that many crew members on feeder buses refuse to accept busway feeder tickets, requiring passengers to pay in cash instead.

City Transportation Agency head Rustam Effendi Sidabutar said his office was studying different types of feeder systems that might be appropriate for the busway system, including the use of shuttle buses.

He said the feeder system would connect with the busway trunk line by use of a shared ticketing system.

The administration is building two new busway corridors linking Pulogadung in East Jakarta to Harmoni in Central Jakarta, and Harmoni to Kalideres in West Jakarta. The new corridors will start operating in October this year.

The administration has prioritized three bus operators as the operators of the new busway lines because their old routes will be replaced by the new corridors. These companies are state-owned bus operator PPD, Mayasari Bhakti and Steady Safe.

"However, we are still opening the bidding for interested companies to join in the consortium that will operate the busway," Rustam said.

In addition to the second and third busway corridors, the administration also plans to speed up the development of another 12 busway corridors by 2007.

However, City Public Works Agency head Fodly Misbach said the construction of new busway corridors would likely hit a snag because of land acquisition problems.

"We need to acquire land on several roads along three planned corridors," he said, specifically mentioning a planned route from Manggarai to Pasar Minggu, both in South Jakarta, as one of the troubled corridors.