Busway starts trial period

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.