Busway project may launch into a rough ride

Busway project may launch into a rough ride

Urip Hudiono and Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The expectation of a flawless busway launch on Thursday is
unlikely to materialize as many substantial changes were made at
the last minute on Wednesday in the final rehearsal of the
project.

Trans-Jakarta Busway Management head, Irzal Djamal, said that
the busway feeder services would only be prepared after Feb. 1
because the management was still preparing the ticketing system.

"All buses that usually serve routes that overlap with the
busway corridor from Blok M in South Jakarta to Kota in West
Jakarta will be operating as usual for the time being. They won't
have to serve the busway feeder routes until Feb. 1," he told
reporters on the sidelines of the practice run.

The statement contradicted his own previous statements and
statements made by Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso and Jakarta
Transportation Agency head Rustam Effendi. The three have
repeatedly expressed optimism that all technicalities of the
busway feeder would be ready for the launch.

"Starting Friday, all bus routes that overlap with the busway
corridor must stop operating," said Sutiyoso.

Rustam said that the feeder bus passengers would still have to
pay cash for the time being until the ticketing system for the
feeder was ready. The ticket price for economy-class buses is Rp
1,200 (14 U.S. cents) and Rp 3,300 for air-conditioned buses.

Irzal also revealed the zoning concept for the feeder buses --
the inner Jakarta zone and the outer city zone -- would be
changed.

He argued that the busway management eventually decided to
scrap the two zones to avoid confusion in the field. Previously
passengers from the inner Jakarta zone would have to pay Rp 2,900
for the feeder buses and the busway while the outer Jakarta zone
passengers would have to pay Rp 3,800.

The new policy stipulates that passengers from both the inner
and outer zones will have to pay Rp 2,900 for non-air-conditioned
buses and Rp 3,800 for air-conditioned buses for both the feeder
buses and the busway.

The busway management also provides prepaid tickets. However,
the tickets will only be valid for the busway and not for the
feeder buses.

Passengers and bus drivers are confused about just how they
will change over from the feeder buses to the busway.

Despite the last minute changes, Sutiyoso still insisted on
sticking to the launch schedule.

"The busway will still kick off on Thursday as all
preparations have been completed," he claimed.

Starting on Thursday, Jakartans have the chance to try out the
busway free-of-charge for a two-week period. They only need to
take a one-way ticket available at the ticket counters in all
busway shelters.

Each specially designed bus is expected to transport 80
passengers. The whole fleet is estimated to be able to transport
20,000 of 60,000 commuters traveling along the busway corridor.

In the TransMilenio system in Bogota, Columbia, which has been
copied by Sutiyoso, each bus can accommodate around 160
passengers thus around 770,000 people can travel using the buses
daily.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Police Traffic Division chief, Sr. Comr.
Sulistyo Ishak, said about 560 policemen would be deployed to
direct traffic along the busway corridor and its four alternative
roads.

He said the policemen would be prepared for possible traffic
bottlenecks at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central
Jakarta by rerouting traffic.

"We will reroute vehicles that intend to go from Jl. Jend.
Sudirman to Jl. Imam Bonjol to pass Jl. Teluk Betung thus easing
traffic in the circle," he said.

Even during the dry run, vehicles were still moving at a
snail's pace along the major thoroughfares because the busway has
taken over one lane.