Feeder service not ready: Busway

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The TransJakarta busway management and PT Jakarta Express Trans (JET) promised to improve the busway service after three months of operation since Jan. 15, in reaction to complaints expressed by passengers and observers, particularly those using the feeder system.

A spokesman for the management, Ajar Aedi, told The Jakarta Post that the company faced difficulties in improving the feeder system as the feeder bus operators had not received sufficient training.

"Currently, many conductors of feeder buses do not want to accept feeder tickets, they ask passengers who have already purchased tickets for money," he said.

Ajar expected that in the next six months, the feeder service would improve considering that by that time, bus conductors would have familiarized themselves with the system.

Currently only a few hundred passengers use the feeder system on a daily basis. The current figure of around 62,000 busway passengers daily is far from expectations, particularly considering 383 feeder buses ply 24 routes between Blok M in South Jakarta and Kota in West Jakarta.

As for the manual ticketing system, Ajar said, so far, it was only available for passengers boarding buses in Kota or at the Blok M shelter, to avoid long queues during peak hours.

"We plan to install four new ticketing machines at both shelters so we don't have to use the manual system anymore," he said.

The TransJakarta management has been conducting a passenger survey since April 12.

The survey will be used to determine the arrival times of buses and to make an arrival schedule, which observers say should have been available to passengers three months ago.

Ajar said those making the schedule would need to take into account important factors, such as the 3-minute change of traffic lights and traffic jams.

He expected that although thoroughness was essential in the scheduling process, the timetable would be completed soon.

The Jakarta administration spent Rp 120.7 billion last year procuring 56 buses and building lane dividers, bus shelters and pedestrian overpasses for the busway.

This year, the administration has allocated Rp 120 billion for another 44 buses, canopies for the pedestrian bridges and an underpass in Kota.

Out of 130 busway drivers initially employed by PT JET, 30 have been dismissed due to bad conduct.

Many drivers complained that they would rather work for their old employers due to the management's inconsistencies.

"The company (JET) said that after the three-month probation period we would be entitled to a pay rise, but so far there has been no sign of it," a driver who declined to be named said.

However, PT JET finance director Ibnu Susanto, told the Post that the company would not add buses before the other busway corridors planned for this year were operational.

"We will not recruit more drivers due to the tight budget, nor increase their salaries... but we will try to provide facilities for employees," he said.