Busway system to start in December

Busway system to start in December

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Eight months from now, Jakartans will be able to enjoy a busway
system connecting Blok M in South Jakarta with downtown Kota in
West Jakarta after the city administration announced on Thursday
that the new scheme would start operating in December.

Jakartans will also get a boon in the form of cheaper tickets
-- Rp 3,000 (US cents 32) each compared to the current Rp 3,200
fare for air-conditioned buses.

To allay fears that the project would cause environmental
damage and not resolve the traffic congestion problem, the
administration has made several changes to the original plan.

Jakarta Land Transportation Agency director Rustam Effendi
said the 50 air-conditioned buses would use the left fast lane
from Blok M to Harmoni, instead of using the right fast lane as
planned earlier. But the buses would still use the right fast
lane from Harmoni to Kota.

Another change was the provision of zebra crossings instead of
pedestrian bridges for bus passengers from the nearside
reservation to the sidewalk.

"We decided to change the method of crossing from bridges to
zebra crossings so as to facilitate elderly people and the
disabled," Rustam said.

The project -- designed by transportation experts from the
Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University -- had initially involved
the felling of hundreds of trees along Jl. Sisingamangaraja, Jl.
Jend. Sudirman and Jl. M.H. Thamrin for the building of bus
shelters and other facilities for the new transportation system.

Some 40 shelters will be built for commuters under pedestrian
bridges in the nearside reservation along the route. Only some 50
air-conditioned buses will be licensed to travel in the fast
lanes.

Assistant for Development Affairs to the City Secretary, Irzal
Djamal, said a tender for the procurement of the buses and
construction of shelters would be announced soon after the
preparatory team, which he also chairs, held final consultations
with Governor Sutiyoso next Wednesday.

He also said that all companies, both local and foreign, were
welcome to bid for the Rp 54 billion project.

Indonesian Consumers' Foundation (YLKI) chairwoman Indah
Suksmaningsih expressed pessimism that the 50 buses deployed in
the busway system would resolve the problem of traffic jams.

"Do they consider where private cars can pass if one of the
three fast lanes is used only by buses," she said, adding that
the project would probably only cause more congestion.

Indah also questioned the administration's readiness to
educate drivers -- who will receive a monthly salary of between
Rp 1 and Rp 2 million -- to be disciplined in stopping only at
official bus stops.

The administration allowed buses to use the fast lanes along
Jl. Jend. Sudirman and Jl. M.H. Thamrin in the early 1990s. The
project failed as passengers had difficulty in crossing the slow
lane from the nearside reservation to the roadside. The failure
forced the administration to abandon the project and revert to
the old system where buses used the slow lane.