Busway starts trial period

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Many motorists and pedestrians were amazed to see two new city buses, escorted by a number of City Transportation Agency motorcycles and cars, driving along Jl. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin on Friday.

Yes, it was the long-awaited busway project undergoing a trial run.

The buses were distinctive, not only because of their yellow- orange color scheme, but also because of their unusual doors and seating arrangements.

"Hey look, are these the new buses?" a pedestrian asked his friend.

"Well, I guess they're for the busway, but they don't really look all that different from the other buses," the friend said.

Not only pedestrians were surprised. A motorcyclist almost hit a car amazed at the parade of buses and city officials' cars.

Jakartans can expect to see more of the new buses plying the route between Blok M in South Jakarta and Kota in West Jakarta until the end of the year as part of the trials.

There are two types of buses, Japanese Hinos and German Mercedes Benz. The Hino buses have 31 seats and the Mercedes Benz's have 30 seats. Both have a capacity of 55 standing passengers.

The buses have doors on both sides. The shelters will be to the right of the buses from Blok M until Harmoni in West Jakarta. Entering Jl. Gajah Mada in West Jakarta, the buses will use the left-hand side doors.

"We plan to introduce the busway by running the buses on the route so more residents can have a look at them. The buses will not carry passengers during the trial period," agency head, Rustam Effendy, told reporters on board one of the buses.

"There will be about 50 or 60 buses when the operation starts in December, depending on the cost."

Initially, the busway was supposed to be launched last October but constant criticism forced the agency to improve its concept before launching the public trial period.

Rustam said the bus fare would be Rp 2,500 (28 U.S. cents) for the 45-minute trip one way.

Also on one of the buses on Friday was Governor Sutiyoso, City Secretary Ritola Tasmaya, the City Secretary's assistant on development affairs, Irzal Djamal, agency officials and a gaggle of reporters.

The governor's entourage left City Hall heading south along Jl. MH Thamrin and Jl. Sudirman and made a U-turn at the Youth Development Statue in Senayan, South Jakarta, before heading north again.

On their way back to City Hall, the buses made a stop at a specially designed bus shelter on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat in front of the National Museum.

Commenting on the first public trial run, Sutiyoso said that the city transportation agency had to pay more attention to the details to ensure the smooth operation of the buses.

It was not the first outing the buses had made as the agency had held an earlier trial run late on Wednesday evening, but Rustam decided to cut it short as camera crews from a number of private TV stations followed the buses.

"I decided to abort the evening trip as soon as I realized that there were TV cameras everywhere. I hadn't informed the governor yet at that time," he said.