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.