Express bus is seen as an expensive option
Express bus is seen as an expensive option
By Ati Nurbaiti
JAKARTA (JP): Every report about a new transportation service is like a novel cure to city stress. Jakartan bus passengers indeed appreciate the news, but after a few months most accept the same old routine with only a few grumbles.
This has happened since the state bus company, PPD, introduced buses called PATAS, an acronym for 'cepat terbatas' (fast and limited), in 1981.
At first people were awed by the grand looking buses -- grand because they were starkly empty and didn't have grubby conductors shouting 'Kosong kosong!!' (Empty!) with their legs hanging out the overflowing bus door.
Over time, the fares increased and the service diminished. The fare began at Rp 150, compared to the regular buses of Rp 50, and gradually increased to the present Rp 550. Regular large buses are Rp 250.
The express buses quickly became stuffed with standing passengers and PATAS was no longer fast and limited, just a normal big bus with double the fare.
A lack of buses was the excuse for the state company's vanishing intention of reducing private cars on jammed roads. The targeted new bus passengers still sheepishly crawled through congestion.
Public transport users again ogled at the clean white PPD buses seven years later. The fare began at Rp 750 in 1988 for the air-conditioned ride free of cramps, street singers and other vendors. It is now Rp 1,400.
Passengers in crisp suits slowly learnt to deposit the exact amount in pay boxes without being hassled by a conductor. Some car owners even relegated their vehicles for weekend use only, but others said they still needed their cars because the large buses only traveled the main roads.
The buses are still a significant breakthrough for those who can't stand the horrible buses or afford expensive taxis.
Last year, when PPD harshly sanctioned drivers caught stealing fares, the impression was that the public could at least rely on the service, however expensive.
But no one complains when the supposedly more disciplined PPD drivers stop in the middle of the road to pick up passengers just like their Metromini cousins.
Private
When the Jakarta municipality finally ended the 14-year limit on exclusive state ownership of large buses in 1993, four private investors started to operate express buses. A city survey had found the existing PPD buses could only carry 2.9 million passengers a day, only 38 percent of those in need of public transport.
PT Tanda Wijaya Sakti has operated air-conditioned express buses called "Mass Transit" since December 1993.
The rules have, of course, been stretched again.
"Once I dozed off on the way home from work on the number P20 Mass Transit bus (Senen to Lebak Bulus route) and when I woke up the bus was full of standing passengers," said an accountant, Amalia, not her real name. The standing passengers also pay full fare.
Like the initial PATAS buses, the owners of the air- conditioned buses profit from peak hours, making up for empty seats during the rest of the day.
The private Mayasari Bhakti company is also known to fill its air-conditioned buses with standing passengers. Especially on the route from Pulogadung, East Jakarta, to Grogol in West Jakarta.
"It's still air-conditioned and better than taking a taxi," said one employee. This proves that many Jakartans want to enjoy a small bit of comfort while they can.
For Mrs. Suwaryo, comfort is not a priority. She can afford Rp 6,000 for transport a day or a monthly total of Rp 156,000. When the factory she works at moves from Cakung, North Jakarta, to a remote area in Tangerang she will be strapped to make ends meet.
"Unless I can hitch a ride home with my boss, almost half of my Rp 350,000 monthly wage will go to transportation," said the personnel manager who lives in Bekasi.
She takes the cheaper bus to Cakung, although it adds 30 minutes to the journey. To reach the new site in Tangerang, she will have to take the express bus and spend at least two hours for a single trip. A regular eight hour working day ends up being 14 hours away from her small children.
As long as wages stay low, Jakartans, like Suwaryo, will continue to silently cram themselves into the dirty, disgusting and dangerous buses. Maybe if someone refused.