Dreams of a busway system vs poor city buses

Dreams of a busway system vs poor city buses

Edith Hartanto and Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta administration dreams of constructing a Rp 54 billion
busway system, but for some odd reason, the dismal condition of
city buses has managed to totally evade the attention of Governor
Sutiyoso and city administration officials.

For the lower-income people of Jakarta, who are resigned to
accepting the reality of soaring public transportation tariffs
due to fuel price increases, a busway system is no solution.

"The money should be used to upgrade city buses, or even buy
decent buses. We travel by those buses after all," Anna Tri
Hastuti, a resident of Cengkareng who travels daily by bus, said
on Tuesday.

The busway project is supposed to come into effect in November
this year, a month after the scheduled gubernatorial election
which is likely to be won by Sutiyoso again.

The City Council has approved an allocation of Rp 54 billion
from the 2002 city budget for a busway project connecting Blok M
in South Jakarta with downtown Kota in the west. A city
councillor for development affairs, Ali Imran Husein, had earlier
claimed that the project would improve public transportation in
Jakarta.

The problem is that there are too many cars in Jakarta, which
itself only has 6,500 kilometers of road. About four million cars
and motorbikes ply the streets.

Questions surrounding the busway system include the problem of
how commuters are supposed to get to Blok M to catch a bus, since
they are not supposed to drive their own cars there because of a
lack of parking spaces.

Deputy Chief of the Land Transportation Owner Association
(Organda) Putu W. Antara slammed the busway program, saying the
administration was foolish to consider spending exorbitantly on a
"questionable idea," when it should concentrate on problems with
the bus system in Jakarta.

"Some of our buses are more than 20-years old. The buses need
spare parts which are extremely expensive ... it's better to fix
the buses before jumping to another crazy project," Putu said.

Jakarta has 5,411 large buses, 4,981 medium-sized buses and
11,848 minivans. Only 68 percent of the total number of buses
currently operate as the rest remain in a poor condition.

The operational buses have been used for about six to nine
years, and are repaired with old tires and non-original vehicle
parts. "At least 55 percent of monthly revenue from each bus is
consumed by operational costs," Putu said.

Transportation experts have stressed however that the
administration's plan to implement a busway system should first
be preceded by a review of the whole transport system, including
the pricing, schedule and the efficiency of the whole bus system.

One glaring example is the mismanagement of the state-owned
public bus company PPD. A well-established public bus operator
owned by the Ministry of Transportation, it has been in the red
for the last 16 years due to mismanagement.

Burdened with an oversized workforce of 6,000, it has had to
provide public transportation. In 2000, PPD suffered a Rp 400
billion loss and is now reliant on government subsidies amounting
to Rp 2.3 billion a month to cover its Rp 8 billion monthly
expenditure.

Local media reports earlier stated that between September 1998
and October 2000, PPD had actually received more than Rp 200
billion from the national budget and the National Development
Planning Board (Bappenas), but the PPD management had "totally
failed to manage" the funds for the upgrade of the buses.

The company operates 454 public buses that serve 67 routes in
the capital. The fleet consists of 265 regular and express buses
and 189 buses that are air-conditioned, while 19 buses are rented
from private operators.

PPD has 489 inoperable buses left idle at its 16 bus depots.

Overcrowded buses racing their way along congested streets
have long been a part of the capital's landscape, but no solution
has been found to rid the capital of this situation.

In these buses, it becomes extremely difficult to get a seat
because the driver tries to fill the already overcrowded vehicle
with even more people.

Another crucial factor which needs review is the wage system
of public transportation, particularly minivans, according to
transportation expert D. A. Simarmata, who recently wrote about
the matter in this paper.

Wages for public transportation drivers, he said, were
generally not based on a fixed monthly salary but on a kind of
piece-rate system, except for PPD. The minivan system is mostly
owner-operated, and not managed by a company.

Except for the owner-operated buses and the PPD, the driver
has to submit an agreed sum of money per day, known as setoran,
to the bus company, Simamarta said.

Anything earned over and above that amount is for the bus
driver and for other operational expenses. The efficiency of the
bus system, Simamarta said, needed substantial improvement.