Busway teaches Jakartans discipline

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The newly launched TransJakarta Busway is compelling its passengers to learn a new culture of mass rapid transportation, particularly in queuing in an orderly line to purchase tickets and board the buses, and taking turns getting on and off.

Meanwhile, motorists in Jakarta will also have to improve their discipline on the streets regarding the busway's exclusive lane.

An accident already occurred on Friday between a motorcycle and one of the buses at a U-turn on Jl. Gajah Mada, West Jakarta, when the motorcyclist entered the busway lane.

At Lane 1 of the Blok M bus terminal, which is especially for the busway, hundreds of passengers still jostled waiting for a ride on the second day of operation. Security guards ushered them into a snaking queue up from the terminal's underground hall to the above-ground lane, divided into several "check points". As each bus arrived, the guards allowed a batch of passengers through each check point.

A similar situation was seen at the Kota busway shelter.

However, at other crowded shelters such as those at Ratu Plaza, Jakarta Police headquarters and the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, passengers simply packed into the shelters after purchasing their tickets.

The crowd in front of the shelters' automatic doors eventually created a new kind of traffic jam each time a bus came.

"Please give way to those getting off the buses!" shouted a security guard desperately to the crowd at the Bendungan Hilir shelter.

He even had to use physical force to help a young woman squeeze her way out of the bus while blocking other passengers from boarding, as the bus was over its 85-passenger capacity.

"If the busway is going to be like this, then it's no more comfortable than the KRL," said Indri, a passenger who boarded the bus from Blok M, referring to the city's commuter electric train notorious for the chaotic boarding of their coaches, packed to bursting.

On the buses, meanwhile, security guards had to warn passengers away from the doors toward the back of the bus if their destination shelters were still farther down the line.

In front of the doors on each bus, a red line marks the area where passengers can stand in safety from the hydraulic folding doors and not interfere with their automatic sensors.

Yusuf, a commuter from Bekasi, said the still crowded situation on the second day of the busway was probably due to the two-week period of free rides.

"Afterwards, only people traveling between Blok M and Kota will use the busway," said Yusuf, who was keen to ride the busway daily from Kota to his office on Jl. Sudirman.

After its grand opening on Thursday, the busway will offer free-of-charge passage until Feb. 1.

On Friday, Adi Nurjaya and Wawan were rushed to Husada Hospital, West Jakarta, after their motorcycle was hit by a busway bus at the Krukut intersection on Jl. Gajah Mada.

Eyewitnesses said the two forced their way into the busway lane to make a U-turn although an officer from the Jakarta Transportation Agency had already stopped them. They suffered minor injuries and were released from the hospital later in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, Governor Sutiyoso said his administration was confident that the Malaysian investor would soon proceed with an agreement to construct a monorail in the capital.

"I hope we can begin the project early next month. That will fit my schedule. But I don't know yet when it will be," he said.

PT Indonesian Transit Central and Malaysia's M Trans Holding have invested US$540 million for the construction of a 27- kilometer, dual-line elevated monorail system. The monorail is to connect Bekasi to the east and Tangerang to the west of Jakarta.