Busway service disappoints the visually impaired

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The busway is not for everyone, at least not for a group of visually impaired citizens who found the service not as comfortable as earlier promised.

Besides the lack of facilities for the disabled, the poor preparation of the busway service, which began on Jan. 15, has taken its toll with the dismissal of 15 busway drivers for a variety of misdemeanors.

"It's not that the busway is totally inaccessible, but I'd say the operator is providing access for the disabled half- heartedly," said Faqih, a member of the Indonesian Disabled People's Advocacy Group.

Along with three friends -- Bagus Supriyanto, Siti Afiyah and Adjat Sudradjat -- Faqih tried a return trip on the busway from the Sawah Besar shelter in front of Gajah Mada Plaza, West Jakarta, to the Bendungan Hilir shelter on Jl. Sudirman, Central Jakarta.

Faqih highlighted the fact that not all pedestrian bridges leading to the busway's shelters have been equipped with ramps -- essential for people in wheelchairs -- like the Sawah Besar shelter, which still uses regular concrete stairways.

He also pointed at the distance between the shelters' platforms and the buses which may endanger the disabled, including the blind, or even elderly citizens and pregnant women.

During the busway's grand launching last month, a group of wheel-chaired citizens, who were invited to the event, made similar comments. They experienced problems entering the shelter's turnstiles which were too narrow for their wheelchairs.

Faqih also questioned the busway operator's promise to provide several seats near the bus driver for the disabled.

Bagus, meanwhile, commented on the lack of special facilities for the disabled.

"The officers do not take the initiative to help the disabled like helping them to get on and off the buses," he said, who had to stand all the way for half of the trip.

The four were invited for the trial by the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta), the Indonesian Independent Network of Civil Society for Development Transparency and Accountability (JARI) and the Indonesian Debt Watch Foundation (Yayasan DWI).

Without the NGO members accompanying them, the four would have had difficulty putting their tickets in the ticket machines and getting themselves through the shelters' turnstiles.

Bagus, who has had experience in using public transportation abroad that cater to disabled citizens, also commented on the absence of audio facilities to aid the visually impaired.

Meanwhile, 15 drivers have been dismissed from PT Jakarta Express Trans (JET) for disciplinary problems since the busway project was launched.

The drivers, selected from among the best bus drivers from bus operators joining the busway consortium, only received one week training at the National Police traffic training center in Serpong, Tangerang. The training only gave them four days of actual driving along the busway corridor from Blok M, South Jakarta, to Kota, West Jakarta, at night.