Busway wants more women drivers
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
If she had her way, Saidah, 35, would like to work as an office clerk in Jakarta's business district.
Eight years after graduating from Jakarta University's Faculty of Economics majoring in business administration, Saidah, who is still single, is now applying for a job as a busway driver.
"I need a stable monthly income and a higher salary because I have four relatives to support," said Saidah, who has been working as a marketing supervisor for an insurance company with an average monthly income of Rp 1 million (US$100).
A busway driver earns Rp 2.1 million per month.
Saidah said that since she graduated she has always sent an application letter if she found a job suited to her educational background or ability.
The latest application letter was sent to PT TransBatavia, the sole provider of the 75 buses used along the busway corridor from Blok M in South Jakarta to Kota area in West Jakarta.
Transbatavia is a partner of BP TransJakarta busway management.
Saidah said that being a bus driver was not exactly what she had dreamed to become, but she was applying for the job anyway as she wanted to get a higher salary and fixed monthly income.
"I have never been happy with the jobs I have had because I did not get a fixed income," she said.
She said that with her current job she sometimes did not have any income at all in a month. But, if she was lucky she could get Rp 1.5 million a month.
Saidah is a resident of Tebet Barat subdistrict in South Jakarta and lives with her stepmother, two married sisters and one nephew, who are all jobless. Her mother and father have passed away.
Saidah said that she had been working for a private company as a marketing officer since the 1990s and driving small trucks was part of her job.
"I hope I will get accepted as a busway driver so that I can support my family," she told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
TransBatavia is currently opening job vacancies for women drivers and it has so far received 15 applications since it advertised the job two weeks ago. The company plans to accept applications until the end of December.
Company spokesman Ajar Aedi said that TransBatavia aimed to recruit 30 more women drivers for the busway buses.
Currently, only nine of around 100 busway drivers are women.
Ajar said more women drivers were needed because based on an evaluation of the nine women drivers, their performance was superior to the men drivers.
"For example, women drivers generally will respond positively to any complaints from passengers," said Ajar, adding that the new women drivers would join the nine other women drivers, who were employed along Corridor I.
According to Ajar, TransBatavia and TransJakarta busway management wanted women to account for 30 percent of the total busway drivers.
"We also open up the opportunity for those who are interested to work as busway drivers for Corridors II and III," he said.
Corridor II runs from Pulogadung in East Jakarta to Harmoni in Central Jakarta, and Corridor III from Harmoni to Kalideres in West Jakarta. The two busway corridors are expected to be launched early next year.
Ajar said that all potential candidates would be trained for three months before they started work.